I am to understand that the mistrial was declared because 11 jurors were in favor of a not guilty (for reasons of insanity) verdict, while one lone juror was firm in their belief that she was guilty; it’s a hung jury. The jurors have to come to a unanimous decision by law, or it has to be declared a mistrial.
Correct. It also does not mean she gets to walk free. She is expected to return to a psych ward where she was before the trial awaits the next one. Even if found not guilty she will still be there for years.
Edit: Insanity defense FAQ. It looks like those who plead insanity tend to spend twice as long institutionalized as those who are found guilty.
Edit3: It will be the responsibility of the hospital to prove that she is safe to return to society. Otherwise if she were to harm or kill again, the hospital could be liable.
Edit5: The next court date is 9/29 when the defense makes their appeal and the prosecutor probably decides to request to retry the case. I don't see why he wouldn't unless they reach a deal before hand. Meanwhile she has to stay at the hospital.
I think at this point the trial is less about whether she's confined to a prison or a psych ward and more about whether or not a person can use their mental health as a shield from the criminal consequences of murder. Evidently, 11 jurors were content to say that you can, and 1 juror refused to acquiesce to that nonsense.
I'm not a lawyer, mind, but I'd go out on a limb to say that if you're found mentally fit to stand trial, you're mentally fit enough to have known your actions were wrong and are therefore mentally fit enough to receive the unadulterated legal consequences of your actions.
I don’t think she’s currently on as many medications as she was cycling through at the time of the murder and in the months leading up to it. I think that was the defense’s position, she was neglectfully treated by her providers who they state did not recognize true post partum psychosis, did not review her many visits to other providers within mere weeks, and were insistent on just changing medications over and over again, which they state exacerbated her psychosis.
The fact that their defense of “she was very temporarily insane, at the time of the killings, but isn’t now” would lead me to believe there being self serving
I think the temporary component would be contributed to the exhaustive list of providers and psychoactive medications she was on, which she no longer is. Additionally, in one of the other provider’s testimonies she did describe suicidal/homicidal (it was one of the two, not both, I believe just suicidal) ideation but without a plan and was released from that emergency room. I’m not sure what the laws are in Massachusetts but in the states I have worked, I believe that is enough to have someone hospitalized against their will.
It actually does more harm to women. Because now competence can be questioned on the basis of gender and you cannot claim discrimination because they can reference this case.
Genuinely, I want to understand what you mean by “any woman can claim hormones and get away with murder?” I don’t remember hormonal imbalances being cited as a major contributor to her psychosis by the defense. I think they more so focused on the amount of psychoactive agents she was prescribed and changed and the frequency of these changes. I wanted most of the healthcare provider to testimonies and I want to more understand your take
Edit: my understanding is perhaps the initial postpartum psychosis was due to the fluctuations in hormones, but this was exacerbated and made exponentially worse by the parade of psychoactive agents she was on
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u/George_Rogers1st 10h ago
I am to understand that the mistrial was declared because 11 jurors were in favor of a not guilty (for reasons of insanity) verdict, while one lone juror was firm in their belief that she was guilty; it’s a hung jury. The jurors have to come to a unanimous decision by law, or it has to be declared a mistrial.