More Debate at protein wisdom

My Latest comments include:

"There are two issues that resonate with me as I wrestle with how I feel. First, I have an instinctive reaction against the criminal (Yates) as a victim. She was a victim of her doctors’; her husband; her religion – pretty much everything and everyone but her. To portray her as such always strikes me as a 1L argument. It can happen, but I am always skeptical when I hear that line of reasoning. (A professor said once, if you want to be a good lawyer, forget it; if you want to be a successful lawyer, make it part of the fiber of your being.)

Second, Bill from INDC uses the Jekyll & Hyde approach (I think the term “Temporary Insanity” dumbs down the real episode Mrs. Yates and others go through). To wit, the sweet demur, mousy Mrs. Yates was consumed by her alter ego, who went on a killing rampage. Bill makes a distinction between this instance and the Dahlmer case where he was always Mr. Hyde and therefore culpable, and the Jekyll and Hyde “case”, where Dr. Jekyll is not responsible for the actions of Mr. Hyde. (For you literary buffs, I know there were white powder potions involved, but allow me the basic metaphor.)

I buy the Jekyll and Hyde approach in theory, but can’t fathom it in practice. Part of it is the “crafty lawyer suspicion”, but part of it is my belief that if you are found not guilty, you are done, no stigma attached. Here are the keys to your car, have a nice life. I do not that society has or can have a way to deal with a Dr. Jekyll short of locking them up and throwing away the key, which seems unjust if you see the person as Dr. Jekyll, but quite just if all you see is a future Mr. Hyde.

If Yates is truly not guilty, then she should be set free. Free to go back to her home, her husband and her family. (Oops.) And after sometime, should she and Mr. Yates decide to have additional children…

I had better stop here."

The fact is that the Texas criminal statute does not allow for circumstances such as this one. Texas takes the Caesar at the Coliseum approach: thumbs up or thumbs down. (And in Texas "thumbs down" has the same effect.)

I could not have been on that jury. I have three kids 10, 8, and 6. Every time I think about it, I get sick to my stomach.