Fight to Keep Children Away From Child Killer Is Lost

[i.b.nora]

And, this Los Angeles Times article from November 1994, when authorities were attempting to place Cushing in a halfway house.

Mother Guilty of Killing Children Can't Find Home : Transition: Rejected by halfway houses, woman must go back to state mental hospital.
November 11, 1994|SUSAN MARQUEZ OWEN | TIMES STAFF WRITER

You can read the article about the difficulties of finding placement for her at that time, but I thought this was the most interesting statement:
"In a rare concurrence, prosecuting and defense attorneys agreed that Cushing was not guilty by reason of insanity of killing her daughters, ages 8 and 4. She was remanded to Patton State Hospital in February, 1992."

 

[jjenny]

The husband is an adult. He can do whatever it is he wants in my view. If he wants to be with his first wife, so be it. But the children don't have a choice since the commissioner ordered the custody agreement to remain the same. And even if the children wanted to live with father and visit with him, are they old enough to make these decisions?

 

[i.b.nora]

I am not inclined to want to read nor to link to each of the Los Angeles Times articles but if you would like to find them in one convenient place, follow this link.

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/kristine-cushing

 

[Donjeta]

"I'm crazy, I shot my daughters. They're upstairs," she told the first sheriff's deputy to arrive at the house near midnight, according to court documents. At the time, her husband, Lt. Col. John P. Cushing Jr., a decorated Gulf War veteran and commander of a squadron of jet fighters at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, was on a fishing trip.

When Kristine Cushing was taken to the hospital for treatment of a graze wound on her head and was talking to a nurse, she blamed what happened on depression, court documents said. "I've been depressed for about three months," she was quoted as saying.

It sounds to me she was nowhere near unable to take criminal responsibility for her actions if she was able to come up with an insanity defense in her 911 call. A person in the throes of a psychotic break does not recover so fast. If you're truly crazy enough to kill your children and unable to understand it was wrong you are prpbably too crazy to realize it's the product of your craziness.

These children need supervised visits with the father.

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-10-20/local/me-509_1_family-services

 

[Donjeta]

They've been in court again:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=157&sid=16959063