GUILTY PA - April Shockey for injury to newborn, Langhorne, 2008

[gooniequeen]

Ugh, just makes me sick.

http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/news/bcct/neighbor-describes-attack-on-baby/

apparently she's pleading insanity.....

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-11162008-1622308.html

 

[GlitchWizard]

Mental illness is certainly messed up. Yet another thing to be thankful we don't have, at Thanksgiving.

 

[spector]

I read about this a couple of months ago. I can't believe they even charged her.

 

[MistyM]

the baby is 8 days old. post partum psychosis kicks in that fast? wow.

 

[b4self]

Poor Baby, why can't family member admit there's something wrong in situations like this before mental illness comes to this.

 

[spector]

I think a lot of times the families do not realize the extent of the illness.

 

[CyberLaw]

There was a case a few years ago about a "Doctor" from a very well professional family who suffered from PPD.

She could not be left alone for one second. She had someone with her 24/7.

But due to a moments lapse, just a moment, she went out the door with her infant.

It did not end well for either one of them. May they both rest in peace.

 

[Rayemonde]

September 2008:

The incident occurred Sept. 18 at Shockey’s Orchard Avenue home. Neighbors called police about 7 p.m. to report that Shockey was outside naked and had thrown her daughter to the ground.

When a neighbor picked up the baby, witnesses said, Shockey began screaming and yanked the child out of the woman’s arms. She then allegedly held the infant over her head and tossed her 19 feet.

The baby landed on an asphalt driveway and suffered two skull fractures and various other injuries.

The child was rushed to St. Christopher’s Hospital in Philadelphia, where she was placed on a ventilator and feeding tube while doctors tried to stop the bleeding on her brain. Officials said Thursday that her condition has improved and she is expected to be released soon, although the full extent of any brain damage will not be known for some time.

Shockey was involuntarily committed to a mental health facility after the incident. She was not arrested until this week because police were completing their investigation, said District Attorney Michelle Henry.

https://web.archive.org/web/2008101...rbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-10102008-1603766.html


April 2009:

Lauren E. Shockey, the Langhorne mom who severely injured her 8-day-old daughter during a psychotic episode last year, will not serve any prison time, a Bucks County judge ruled Wednesday.

County Judge Jeffrey Finley said he made his decision after a
month of deliberation and study on postpartum psychosis. Shockey, 27, was diagnosed with the disease after she was arrested.

Looking around the Doylestown courtroom, filled to standing-room-only capacity by Shockey’s family and friends, the judge said he was also swayed by the outpouring of support for the new mother.

“This was a struggle,” Finley said. “This was a difficult decision. But the show of support here today speaks highly of you.”

The judge sentenced Shockey, of Orchard Avenue, to 10 years of probation. The sentence was a departure from state sentencing guidelines, which called for up to five years of incarceration.

As a condition of the sentence, Shockey must remain in mental health treatment.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...gglMAM&usg=AFQjCNGpL-khIXN13fD4Nn9D42WV6GZD8Q

 

[Rayemonde]

Can't find an update on the baby... I hope she made a full recovery.

Looks like Lauren Shockey and her husband had another baby around October 2014. I'd be terrified to have another baby if I'd had a psychotic breakdown and injured my first baby. This time.e though, I guess she was closely monitored and probably medicated throughout the pregnancy and after birth.
http://registry.thebump.com/lauren-shockey-mark-shockey-october-2014/8611279

 

[Rayemonde]

Found the Shockey family blog. Looks like the baby suffered some permanent brain damage and is still having ongoing treatment. In January 2015 Lauren writes that the girl can't straighten her legs out properly, and is having one leg put in a cast and injections into the leg to try and give her some independence.

http://ashappyaskings.blogspot.com/2015/02/january.html?m=1

 

[Rayemonde]

Looks like Lauren Shockey and her husband had another baby around October.

Found out from the blog that this was actually baby number 4!

I found pictures of the injured child on the blog walking with the aid of a walker, and she was talking and learning to write too. So she can see and hear and isn't paralysed, which is wonderful! The mother is homeschooling the children.

 

[Rayemonde]

June 2015 - looks like they are a very religious family

http://mhsiv.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-wife-and-her-oxhow-gods-law-would.html?m=1

 

[Rayemonde]

Mom's Facebook:
https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009576430501

 

[ontheclock]

Mmmkay.

Go ahead and throw tomatoes at me. I don't care this time.

Wonder mommy's blog makes me snarl, and her husband sounds like a dolt.

Need attention much???

 

[Rayemonde]

I have complete sympathy for anyone who commits a crime when genuinely suffering from postpartum psychosis.

But that doesn't mean I have to like them. I found the blog very distasteful too. And I have to admit, it made me think of Andrea Yates... The religious desire to keep having more and more children despite the real risk of serious mental illness... I wonder if she's had any more problems with post partum depression or psychosis with any of the other children. Everything on the blog has a very positive spin, but I think she'd be at high risk and I hope she is monitored closely. I couldn't find any mention on the blog of depression, mental illness, what caused the little girl's disability, guilt, her probation or anything else to do with the incident.

I also cringed a bit when the judge mentioned all the support she had in church... other people who don't have a big church community to rally for them might have gone down for attempted murder in the same situation. Seems like a double standard. I wonder if she had to fight hard to get the baby back.

I didn't see in the news reports what she was actually convicted of. She wasn't found not guilty by reason of insanity.

 

[audrey77]

I used to live near this area and looked the case up again. She made a video about it: [video=youtube;RE3snSU_igg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE3snSU_igg[/video]

The court records say she pled guilty by reason of insanity, but the sentence was deferred: "Sentence Deferred- ruling on Sect 314, PSI Waived, acceptance of Sect 314 "GP but mentally ill" is deferred at this time, bai remains."

They have 5 kids now... 6th on the way I think? I'd be scared out of my mind even with prayer that it would happen again.

 

[LadyL]

yep she's pregnant
again

I wonder if her daughter knows why she is handicapped or who caused her injuries ... she's old enough to understand (somewhat) now

 

[Rayemonde]

Having a special needs child certainly does open a family up to a world of suffering. In a world where happiness and success are the ideals, I can see how well meaning couples could lovingly choose to spare their offspring and themselves from a life that will always be a struggle to keep up with those ideals.

Jesus told us that those ideals were all wrong though. Suffering and servanthood are what we're to be after.

I never would have asked for one of my children to have special needs because I didn't know to pray for what I really needed. But because of His great mercy, [my child] has cerebral palsy and every day is difficult and a chance to die and be raised with Him.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1874744312854765&id=100009576430501