Texas Mom Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

[Bunny]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060407/ap_on_re_us/severed_arms

<snip>
McKINNEY, Texas - A mother charged with murder for cutting off her baby daughter's arms in what her lawyers portrayed as a religious frenzy was found not guilty by reason of insanity Friday by a judge.

Dena Schlosser, 38, will be sent to a state mental hospital and held until she is no longer deemed a threat to herself or others.

"My own expectation is that she will remain at the hospital for many, many years," defense attorney David Haynes said.

Police arrested Schlosser in 2004 after she told a 911 operator she had severed her baby's arms. Officers found the 10-month-old baby, Margaret, near death in her crib and Schlosser covered in blood, holding a knife and listening to a hymn.

<snip>

I think that justice was truly served in this case.

[roguevalley]

1. finally, a just verdict.

[Southsideirish]

2. Agreed. (I love your floppy eared bunny - absolutely adorable!!)

I'd love to have one.

[etherealtruth]

3. What a tragic event ...

I'm hoping that this judgment is an indication that "people" are finally understanding psychosis (be it post natal or whatever)

[beyurslf]

4. I believe some people need the insanity defense but religious nutcases

do not deserve it. "god made me do it" means guilty as hell.

[johnnie]

5. I agree, but the sad part is that religion played a part in it

Mental disorders and religion make a bad mix. It's hard to say if this woman would have done this if she wasn't into religion, but when someone does something this brutal and the excuse is because of God, then it starts to make me wonder. I'm not bashing any religion at all, just that it is something that I think about.

[mrcheerful]

10. Most fundies are mental cases. They use good old time religion to cure

their mental illness and so they don't have to deal with reality. Come on, since 1848 fundies have been predicting the end times BS. John Nelson Darby, in 1880, came up with using the bible like a jig saw puzzle and started taking quotes from the books of Danial and Revelations to make up this fundie belief system. It started in england but the southern baptists in america quickly pickled it up. Until Darby came up with the rapture ideal in 1880, no religion had any such thing mentioned. Now how can you say your dealing with sane people when since 1948 they been waiting for the end times? And how sane are people who are trying to play god and start the end time war? 1948 was a special year for the Darby followers as Israel took back the holy land and to Darby that was the biggest warning sign that the end time had started and the fundies needed to start watching for the anti christ. Everything shrubs done in the ME is farther proof that the end time is near and the anti christ is awake. This all ties in with why this woman is insane, she had an illness and instead of turning to doctors for help she turned to religion which fed her illness. I believe this should be laid on the backs of fundies and not the insane woman.

[DanCa]

12. Fundies on either side scare the hell out of me.

How many religious fundamentalist are against stem cell research without ever knowing the facts behind the science or stepping into into a lab. And how many deny the existance of global warming? I think something must be get lost in their reasoning or the fact that they depend on others to do group think for them. It's like they skew the events of the day to match their reality and it's frieghtening.

[Bunny]

11. I think that religious grandiosity is a frequent symptom of mental

illness. So, to me it seems like a chicken v. egg thing, in terms of which came first - the mental illness or the extreme religiosity? (religiosity - is that a word?:shrug:)

[etherealtruth]

13. I think religious delusions ...

... are "common" psychotic delusions, right up there with Napolean and being stalked by the CIA ...don't know what it means ...just sayin'.

[Coventina]

6. She has a brain tumor that very possibly was a factor in this case.

I see no sense in judging her.

When your brain is sick it affects your behavior in ways that are not predictable.

If there is mercy in this universe, she will die without ever regaining her sanity.

[Just Me]

7. I never thought of that. How could she survive if she does regain,....

,...her sanity? I can't imagine having any desire to live, fully aware of having participated in such an awful act.

[adarling]

15. ahh, i did not know this.

such a horrible situation.

[CatWoman]

8. Aha!! McKinney AGAIN!!!!

}(

[MissB]

9. .

:spray:

Damn, it is always her fault.

[adarling]

14. Thats my hometown

i swear, this town use to be a quiet little town with 25,000 people when we moved there. Now it is close to 100,000 after 11 years and it just keeps growing. the more growth, the more weird scary things happen. My brother's friend two yrs ago was killed, someone shot him in the head and they never found the guy or could never get a good case against him. Just sad what happens when towns get bigger. Makes my stomach turn to see all these mothers doing this to their children, and sad to say it but religion is the connection to it sometimes, mainly the fundies.

[rainbow4321]

16. The crime happened in Plano...

but the trial was in McKinney. But what you said is true for Plano, also..the bigger we get (250,000 pop.) the more we have horrible stories happening.
Lots of family murders/suicides here...one was a teacher who killed her husband/teenage daughter and then herself, another mom killed her children and the cops found them in the bathtub, adult son just recently killed his elderly mother and it took months to find her body
(it was finally found in Lake Lavon, I believe), soccer coach just arrested for assaulting some girls on his team, a teacher had kids in his class **use their cell phones to video him assaulting a male student** who fell asleep in his class. Plano just does a good job of keeping most of the horror stories under the news radar..the Schlosser story is one of the very few making national news...and even that is listed as being in "McKinney".