sharon25 said:
STEVENSON, Wash. --
Diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic, she had stopped taking her medication in favor of herbal remedies about four years before the slayings because of concern about the side effects, her husband said.
The woman's husband, Robert Dorcy, had held out hope the county might show leniency, said Ell Loney, a county-appointed chaplain. "He had some false hope that through a miracle of prayer, she would get off," the chaplain said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Daughters%20Killed
I'll never understand how people can stand by their spouses, when they've committed such a horrible crime against their own children.
Simple, if the husband felt that his wife was psychotic when she killed her children then I could see him forgiving her and wanting her to be hospitalized rather than imprisoned. He was very naive to think she would walk away scott free. That was denial if not delusional thinking on his part.
If she was psychotic at the time she killed the children she wouldn't have known the difference between right and wrong. She stopped taking her meds of her own volition so I don't think she should ever see the light of day again. But a Forensic Psychiatric Facility would be the humane place for such a person.
Schitzophrenia is a debilitating mental illness that no one asks for. The woman was ill and needed Psychiatric treatment. Herbal treatments don't work and any Psychiatrist would have told her that. Her husband seems to have been the controlling individual in the home perhaps he carries a moral, if not legal, responsibility for her acts.
Whenever it comes to mental illness posts can get hot. And I can see why. Ever since Hinkley, or the Twinkie Defense, a mental defense case has been almost impossible to win. I note the recent case of the highway shooter in I think it was Ohio. His case was on Court TV a few weeks back. It ended in a hung jury. That man shot a woman passenger in a car. He told the Doctors that the loud noise of the gun quieted the voices in his head. He had been diagnosed as a paranoid schitzophrenic several years before the incident so it wasn't a Hail Mary defense.
When he goes to trial again I don't know what the verdict will be but I hope it will be life in a prison hospital. I don't think that such a mentally ill person should ever be free. I do believe in incarceration in a Forensic Mental Facility for life because when off meds murder could occur again and without the strict confines of a Forensic Mental Institute behavior could not be controlled.
I am so torn on this issue. I taught a student who came down with paranoid schitzophrenia in grade 12. The illness often hits males in their late teens to early twenties. It hits women a few years later usually. This student chased his own Mother with a butcher knife and tried to kill her. He didn't know what he was doing, but wouldn't take his pills.
He is in a Forensic Psychiatric Facility now for the rest of his life. His parents love him, visit him and grieve the loss of the son they knew. What he did was attempted murder. Do I want to see him on the street? No!!!!Do I think he belongs in prison, no. He didn't know what he was doing. He was psychotic at the time of the incident. Thank goodness in his case he was put in a Forensic Psychiatric Prison.
Not all paranoid schitzophrenics, off of their meds, who commit or attempt to commit murder are so fortunate. And remember these Forensic Psychiatric Hospitals are no piece of cake unless you are Hinkley who spends plenty of family time away from the institute. It is this "Hinkley"type of thing that frightens the public unfortunately. Who knows what the right answer is? It is a sad thing all way round.
But back to the original question, I can see why the husband is standing beside his wife, although I think he is morally guilty because he listened to an off the wall Prophet and didn't allow his wife the medical attention she so seriously needed.
Ignorance of serious forms of mental illness where the patient is psychotic is rampant in society. Education is necessary. Don't let these poor souls lose on society because they are ill, commit them for life to a Forensic Mental Prison or Institute. They are not criminals when they commit an act while psychotic.
Sick people belong in hospital. However, Hinkley's stunt "screwed the pooch" for many mentally ill people. That is just my opinion due to my experience with a person who had the illness.
