Psychiatrist Testifies in Slaying Case (Texas Mom) [View All]

A psychiatrist for the prosecution testified that a mother did not know right from wrong when she crushed her sons' skulls with rocks.

In a setback for the state's murder case against the East Texas woman, Park Dietz told the jury Tuesday that Deanna Laney had delusions she and Andrea Yates, who drowned her children in 2001, were chosen by God to be witnesses after the world ends.

"She thought she would be one of the two witnesses described in the book of Revelations,"' Dietz said.
--SNIP--

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3923583,00.html

Have to add my commentary, dontcha know...!

I am having alot of problems with this one. I have a 4-year-old boy, and I'm having a great deal of difficulty trying to be objective about it. The part that's bothering me most is thinking of that 14-month-old that survived the rock bashing: his current condition is horrifying! He is mostly blind, still has a feeding tube, learning to walk with leg braces, and if he's lucky, his goal in life is to be able to feed himself. This absolutely sickens me to my marrow. The little detail about him being in Thomas the Tank Engine jammies just ripped my heart out. I saw the footage of his crib with the huge pool of blood and can't stop thinking about it.

I've only just recently come around to being anti-death penalty in the last few years, so this case is severely testing my newfound beliefs. I'm not even sure I want this woman dead, because that would be too good for her, too easy. Hell, I don't know what I want for her, because I admit that I'm just way too upset about what she did.

What bothered me most about yesterday's testimony was when everyone was reminiscing about the boys' likes and dislikes: Dee was just smiling warmly, everyone was chuckling, just as if they were reminiscing about 2 boys who died of natural causes. It was truly Kafka-esque.

I'm also having trouble with the idea that she didn't know right from wrong at the time of the murders. If she were truly out of her mind and didn't know that bashing her sons' heads with rocks was a bad thing to do, then why did she call 911? A person who is totally out of her mind would not have the presence of mind to call 911. A person who is totally out of her mind would not even know what "911" means.

Another thing that concerns me is the following attitude. She says that God told her to commit this act. But darn it, it turns out that it wasn't God after all. "Shoot, I'll have to just be more careful next time!" She and her supporters want her to be allowed to go on her merry way after "innocently" mistaking Satan's voice for God's. They say, "Dee didn't do this, Satan did it through her." Where is the accountability? Yes, let her receive treatment; but then PLEASE send her away for a very long time. If she is allowed to continue with her life, and return home as if nothing too terribly bad happened, then a) she might give birth to more children that would somehow need killing for God, and b) she will be a nightmare in little Aaron's life for the rest of his days as she attempts to resume "mothering" him. That poor little boy!

What the hell do we do with cases like this? If the family didn't see it coming, how the hell can we as outsiders prevent this from happening again in other families, with other mothers? If people can just hide behind their religion to commit horrifying acts, what are we as a society to do to protect the children of such people? If this family's definition of "normal" includes hearing God talk to you frequently, then at what point does the "normal" hearing of voices become psychosis?
:shrug:??????

Thanks for letting me vent, I'm sorry if I've offended anyone with my emotional rant. As you can see, this one is really under my skin!