Dee Laney

[St. Theresa]

Another Andrea Yates. She stoned her children to death. Trial going on now.

http://www.courttv.com/trials/laney/033004_ctv.html

[vegaenglit]

have you read under the banner of heaven? (about a murder done by fanatic mormons)

in there they say that religious devotion and talking to god/god talking to you are not grounds for being legally insane.

[Gretch]

[shock] I read that 911 transcript. It's so odd how cooperative she was and how calm she was. How she was describing her house in Chcago brick and how she was describing how to get down to the kids.

It's just really creepy.

I'm going to read about the case now...

[chickentart]

[shock] I read that 911 transcript. It's so odd how cooperative she was and how calm she was. How she was describing her house in Chcago brick and how she was describing how to get down to the kids.

It's just really creepy.

I'm going to read about the case now...

me too

[Rabbittmoon]

From the 911 transcript:

Are you upset about anything?
I just did what I had to do.
You did what you had to do?
Yes.
And why do you say that ma'am?
That's just what I was told to do.
Who told you to do that?
God.
__________________________

I don't know, I smell something fishy. Even if she was forced by God to do it, you'd think she would have been a little more upset about it.

[St. Theresa]

Did you see the photo of her that night? She was completely splattered with blood. In her pajamas. It's very eerie, because she's soft-spoken and looks so sweet and innocent, yet she did this horrible thing. I think she's pretty damn sick. I haven't been watching the trial, but I hope they take her illness into consideration when/if she's sentenced.

[uglyboat]

I read about it but I didn't see the picture. Could you give me a link to it? I am a Christian and I just find it so hard to believe that these women think that God tells them to do this!!

[St. Theresa]

Toward the bottom of http://www.courttv.com/trials/laney/032904_start.html

[Wicked Butterfly]

She was found not guilty by reason of insanity. I'll post a link later.

[St. Theresa]

Whoa! That's unbelievable. I wonder what's different about this than Yates' case (besides 2 kids' difference.) Wow.

[Gretch]

'Ere's the link...
http://www.courttv.com/trials/laney/040304_verdict_ctv.html

[Wicked Butterfly]

Thanks...

I had to go to work but I wanted to tell the news as soon as I heard it on the news.

[The Quiet Storm]

Mom who said she killed on God's orders acquitted

Jury rules she was insane when she bludgeoned her 3 children

(CNN) -- A jury acquitted a Texas mother of killing two of her sons and seriously injuring the third after determining she was insane at the time.

As the verdicts were read, Deanna Laney's face quivered, but the 39-year-old shed no tears.

Laney would have received an automatic life sentence had she been convicted of capital murder.

Instead, she will immediately be taken for evaluation to a maximum security state psychiatric hospital, where she could stay as long as 40 years.

Laney admitted bashing her three children in the heads with rocks. She said God told her to do so.

Laney was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of 8-year-old Joshua and 6-year-old Luke, and a single count of injury to a child for 15-month old Aaron, who survived the attacks on Mother's Day 2003.

Prosecutor Matt Bingham has said Aaron's vision is impaired and he will never be able to live on his own.

Bingham chose not to seek the death penalty in the case.

"I don't think anybody in this room or anybody in that courtroom wasn't touched by the evidence in this case," the Smith County district attorney told reporters after the verdicts.

"For the rest of my life I'll remember Aaron, I'll remember Joshua, I'll remember Luke. I'll never forget what happened to them that day," he said.


Aaron, left, Luke and Joshua Laney are shown in this undated family photograph.

Laney's court-appointed attorney, Buck Files, said he felt a sense of relief.

"We have believed as strongly as we could believe that our client was insane at the time of the events," Files said.

Files said in court that Laney believed God had told her the world was going to end and "she had to get her house in order," which included killing her children.

"The dilemma she faced is a terrible one for a mother," Files told the jury. "Does she follow what she believes to be God's will, or does she turn her back on God?"

[St. Theresa]

Might wanna merge this into the Dee Laney thread. :)

I took a glance at the CourtTV crowd's reaction last night and I think the general consensus is WTF? People see this simply as a matter of justice. She killed her children; she should be convicted.

Apparently the testimony regarding her illness was quite convincing, because the jury could not find it in their hearts to convict her, even after having seen the gruesome aftermath through photos in the courtroom. It takes a LOT to muster up sympathy for a child killer, so I'm convinced there really was a lot to this case.

She's not exactly going back to normal and into society. She'll be committed to an institution which, even under the best of circumstances, is a pathetic life.

I'd like to know what is different about this as compared to the Yates case. It's quite clear that Andrea Yates was severely disturbed, too.

Either way, people are convinced that anything less than the death penalty will simply encourage other parents to kill their own children. That's insane, pardon the pun. You can't make laws to deter psychotic delusions. When you throw "God" into the picture, you can't make any law that overrules what a religious psychotic hears in his or her head.

[delilah]

Jesus horatio christ, that photo just creeped the hell out of me.

I really think that the verdict given was the best possible one. I haven't been following the case quite that closely, but the fact that both the defense and the prosecution agreed and ruled that she was insane at the time of the murders convinces me.

I too, am curious as to how this why this woman was given this verdict, while Andrea Yates sits in a cell.

[Wicked Butterfly]

I'd like to know what is different about this as compared to the Yates case. It's quite clear that Andrea Yates was severely disturbed, too.



I just think that a different jury could have a different opinion on the subject, especially since the Yates case got so much attention here in Texas. The jurors could have learned something from the prior case.