GUILTY FL - Calyx, 16, & Beau Schenecker, 13, shot to death, Tampa, 27 Jan 2011 #4

[CarolinaMoon]

Wowzers! 10 or so drinks a day, and I'm betting they weren't like ones measured out in a bar.

 

[zoey]

Dr. M has prescribed Lithium and Lamotrigen. They are mood stabilizers. Lithium has ability to reduce suicidality. JS had been prescribed Lithium and Lamotrigen for several months before the murders. Dr. M may or may not advise abstention from alcohol while taking these drugs. If he knows a patient would not be completely abstentious, he would advise what they could do safely.

On the central nervous system, alcohol and Lithium have a synergistic effect.

and she had 10 drinks a day!

 

[Abigail]

JS had a pattern of alcohol abuse in months leading up to murders.

Windmoor admission - Nov 2010 - JS told admitting psychiatrist that she was drinking 10 drinks a day, which Dr. M said was "excessive."

JS reported blackouts and morning shakes as a result of alcohol abuse.

JS reported that in the days leading up to the killings she was drinking less -- up to 1/2 bottle wine.

 

[Whiteorchids]

I think this is a case of your leaving me so I'm taking away who you love most. "I stomped your heart didn't I"

 

[Abigail]

JS would have been better off if she didn't drink any alcohol at all. She'd have had a better relationship with her family. She knew that she drank too much, but she may not have realized that complete abstention was her best choice.

 

[janx]

Here's where my conflict lies with this case:

I do not believe she killed her children in order to save them from anything. I believe she killed her children because she was upset with how they treated her.
I feel it is quite a stretch to ask us to believe that her motive was to save them from molestation, and MI and to "bring them to Heaven with her". You can't claim that about her because she wrote in her journal that she shot her children in their "mouthy mouth" and told detectives that she shot her children because they were "mouthy".
That doesn't jive for me. If she truly believed she was saving them from something, in her delusional psychosis, she would have said what she was saving them from.

Having said that, if she killed her children out of spite while being in a delusion that everyone was against her, would that still be considered legally insane? Does that fall under the same category that she knew what she was doing, but didn't know it was wrong?

If she didn't know it was wrong, why did she lie when she bought the gun?

 

[popsicle]

Trial Queen Sharee ‏@TrialQnSharee 2m
Dr Maher says he believed #JulieSchenecker knew she drank too much

 

[Whiteorchids]

If she didn't know it was wrong, why did she lie when she bought the gun?

The Dr explained that. No one will understand their reasoning what their thinking.

 

[zoey]

Tampa Bay Times Live ‏@TBTimesLive · 2m
Maher: “I’m not sure she believed that being completely abstinent from alcohol was her best choice” #scheneckertrial

Tampa Bay Times Live ‏@TBTimesLive · 9m
Prosecutors are back on the alcohol line of argument: that Schenecker abused it knowing it would interfere with her meds #scheneckertrial

 

[Rhozwen]

How does this doc know what she understood? Diagnosis is one thing, but reading minds is something else.

I had high hopes for this witness, but this isn't panning out how I had expected.

This doctor's testimony is pushing me further over to the side of Guilty of 1st degree murder.

 

[janx]

I don't trust this shrink anymore. He's articulate, but he was too dramatic when he testified for the defense, and now he's equivocating and parsing the heck out of everything.

 

[Whiteorchids]

Alcohol=bottle of courage to do the deed

 

[CUCKOOHEAD]

Wowzers! 10 or so drinks a day, and I'm betting they weren't like ones measured out in a bar.

Finally the 'I had two drinks a day' bs is shown to be bs.

Her kids weren't scared of her driving because of two drinks a day.

 

[bloodmeridian]

PT is on the ball.

 

[bloodmeridian]

If an alcoholic says 10 drinks a day....you can double that...at least!

 

[Abigail]

In 2009, JS reported that she was drinking up to 7 drinks a day. She self reported that from June 2010 up through 2011, she was drinking daily. She was unaware of the serious negative impact. She was probably reporting accurately when she said 10 drinks a day. People typically under-report their alcohol consumption.

JS had a history of non-compliance with her medication regime. Not taking right dose at right time, not taking med at all, or combining with alcohol.

Dr. M said her illness was biologically resistant. Did non-compliance or alcohol affect the treatment of her Bipolar. Her 9 months of inpatient treatment at Walter Reed indicates that even when taking meds regularly and not drinking, her illness was still difficult to treatment, which makes it clear that she was biologically resistant. Of course, compliance and no alcohol would have helped. But it wouldn't have been completely effective.

 

[CUCKOOHEAD]

JS saw an episode on Oprah where taking too many medicines was discussed. So ten drinks a day is not overdoing the liquor?

 

[bloodmeridian]

Oh dear.....even I'm not buying that..."I'll try it the Oprah" way. She was way too ill to stop taking meds and drink the way she did. Sounds like an addicts answer to me. jmo

 

[CarolinaMoon]

I had high hopes for this witness, but this isn't panning out how I had expected.

This doctor's testimony is pushing me further over to the side of Guilty of 1st degree murder.

That tends to happen on cross. Gone are the assured, authoritative voice, the voice of reason.

 

[Abigail]

JS didn't like that Lithium flattened her highs. She liked to be energized, happy, and interested. There were times she didn't take her Lithium because she felt that the Lithium "brought her down." She wanted to be energized or creative or engaged, so she didn't take her Lithium so she'd get that positive edge.

Since the Windmoor release, there's no way to tell how compliant she was with her Lithium treatment. Admitted to ER after arrest due to Lithium toxicity (Lithium level of 1.9). Murders were not caused by Lithium toxicity.