Mansfield man gets 10 years in prison for leaving son with mentally ill wife

[proud2BlibKansan]

In an unprecedented decision, a Tarrant County judge sentenced a Mansfield man to 10 years in prison Thursday for leaving his psychotic wife alone with the couple's infant son, which led to the boy’s death.
Also Online

Michael Maxon, 56, was convicted of child abandonment for failing to safeguard his son, Alex, who was drowned in a home hot tub by his mentally ill mother in 2006.

Valeria Maxon was later ruled insane and sent to a state mental institution. Prosecutors say Maxon's case marks the first known legal punishment of a father in connection with a child's murder by a psychotic mother.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/040210dnmetmaxonsentence.2062fa08d.html

[mike_c]

1. Americans are obsessed with punishment and revenge....

Most folks can't even see it-- "punishment" is so deeply ingrained in our national psyche that most can't even imagine anything else. This story is just sad on all accounts. The boy died, everyone else's lives shattered, and a judicial system bent on magnifying the pain.

[DJ13]

2. +1

[Better Today]

3. If you followed the link to the detail of why he was charged, you'd change your mind.

Mr. Maxon recorded tapes, homemade therapy for his wife when she became depressed. On them, a police affidavit said, Mr. Maxon repeatedly chanted: "Our son is riding on the short bus." "Life is so deliciously miserable." "I am a mother. It's all my fault."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/052508dadarrests.3b41412.html

Anyone who would use tapes to vilify an already mentally unstable mother deserves punishment. This is a clear case, imo, of a man manipulating a woman to do something like drown herself or her child or both.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. So he really was, in effect, a participant in the crime.... an accessory before the fact.

Aiding or contributing in a secondary way or assisting in or contributing to as a subordinate.

In Criminal Law, contributing to or aiding in the commission of a crime. One who, without being present at the commission of an offense, becomes guilty of such offense, not as a chief actor, but as a participant, as by command, advice, instigation, or concealment; either before or after the fact or commission.

One who aids, abets, commands, or counsels another in the commission of a crime.

In common law, an accessory could not be found guilty unless the actual perpetrator was convicted. In most U.S. jurisdictions today, however, an accessory can be convicted even if the principal actor is not arrested or is acquitted. The prosecution must establish that the accessory in some way instigated, furthered, or concealed the crime. Typically, punishment for a convicted accessory is not as severe as that for the perpetrator.

[Better Today]

6. Exactly. I think 10 years is quite light when you consider that this is also a form

of domestic abuse, imo.

[d_r]

8. wtf?

this 54 year old guy has a 33 year old wife who is mentally ill, and he leaves her tapes to listen to that say that kind of stuff??? WTF

[msanthrope]

7. Not safeguarding children is a crime worth punishment.

You might try reading the article before you eschew punishment on this one.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I wish I had $10 for every story I have heard about some woman who leaves her child with her

"boyfriend"..and the child ends up being beaten, killed, or turns up missing.
And as often as not, the "boyfriend" is an ex-con, out on parole or has some other background story
that would make one think he would be the last person you would leave in charge of a small child.

Have not heard any stories of those Moms being charged with anything.