Posted by: "Texoma Coalition"
Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:28 pm (PST)
People don't fully understand insanity

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Posted on Sat, Jul. 29, 2006


People don't fully understand insanity

By NATHANIEL JONES
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

Insanity is difficult to prove.

Of all the insanity defenses contested in court nationwide, only 15 percent are
successfully argued, an expert said.

"The average person on the street doesn't fully understand insanity," said
Phillip J. Resnick, professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve school of
medicine in Cleveland. "To the average person, insanity doesn't make sense. They
feel a person should be found guilty based on doing the act."

Keller mother Norma Jean Roberts, 50, was sentenced to 80 years in prison Friday
for the 2005 smothering of her 11-year-old daughter. Roberts had pleaded not
guilty by reason of insanity.

Still, the insanity defense has kept several Texas women accused of killing
their children out of prison. Some of the mothers, such as Andrea Yates of
Houston, Dena Schlosser of Plano and Deanna LaJune Laney of Tyler, cited
religious overtones as the rationale for their actions

In each of these cases, defense attorneys used mental health records and family
testimony in attempting to convince jurors that mental health problems
contributed to their actions.

Under Texas law, jurors must decide if a defendant seeking the insanity defense
knew the wrongfulness of the act.

"The insanity defense is to save someone from being punished for doing something
they didn't know was wrong," said Robert Udashen, who successfully argued that
Plano mother Lisa Diaz was insane when she drowned her 5-year-old daughter in
2003. "Punishing them doesn't stop another person from committing the same
crime."

Jurors may have to weigh the insanity defense for Mansfield mother Valeria
Maxon, 32, who has been charged with capital murder in the drowning death of her
1-year-old son, Alex, last month in the family's backyard hot tub.

Neighbors in the Maxons' Walnut Creek Estates have said Alex was having problems
crawling and lifting his head.

They have said that the Maxons were concerned with Alex's health and that
Valeria Maxon believed her son's problems were her fault.

Prosecutor Mitch Poe, said the Maxon investigation was slow "and an uphill climb
for the police and for our office."

Poe wouldn't elaborate on the difficulties. He said it would be up to a jury to
determine if Maxon was insane.

Mothers who kill their children

Juries have returned verdicts of not guilty by reason of insanity in several
recent trials involving women accused of killing their children. In those cases,
defense attorneys have made strong arguments about the role that mental illness
and sometimes religious fervor played in the crimes. Still, experts say that
only about 15 percent of defendants who invoke the insanity defense are found
not guilty. On Friday, jurors rejected the insanity defense in the case of Norma
Jean Roberts of Keller.

Not guilty, insane

Andrea Yates, Houston

Crime: Drowning her five children in a bathtub

Verdict: Not guilty by reason of insanity

In June 2001, Yates drowned her five children, ages 6 months to 7 years old, at
her Houston-area home. Yates claimed that she was saving her children's souls.
In her first trial, she was sentenced to life in prison, but the conviction was
overturned because of erroneous testimony from a prosecution witness. Yates'
defense attorney said she had a long history of mental illness, including four
hospitalizations and two suicide attempts.

Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday. She is to be sent to
the maximum-security North Texas State Hospital in Vernon.

Dena Schlosser, Plano

Crime: Killing her 10-month-old daughter by cutting off her arms.

Verdict: Not guilty by reason of insanity

In November 2004, Schlosser cut off her daughter Margaret's arms with a 10-inch
butcher knife, saying she was sacrificing her baby to God. Schlosser's attorneys
said she suffered from post-partum depression and "hyperreligious" behavior.
Schlosser also was sent to the state hospital in Vernon.

Deanna LaJune Laney, Tyler

Crime: Beating her two sons to death.

Verdict: Not guilty by reason of insanity

Laney was charged with capital murder in May 2003 for crushing her sons' heads
with stones. She said God told her to kill her sons -- Joshua, 8, and Luke, 6.
Her third son, Aaron, was also injured. Psychiatric experts testified that Laney
was mentally ill during the attacks.

Lisa Diaz, Plano

Crime: Drowning her two daughters

Verdict: Diaz was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2003 death of
5-year-old Brianna. She has not been tried for the death of 3-year-old Kamryn.
Diaz told doctors and psychologists that her daughters had illnesses such as
lupus and ringworm. Mental health experts testified that the mother was severely
depressed and delusional.

Guilty, sentenced to prison

Norma Jean Roberts, Keller

Crime: Roberts smothered her 11-year-old daughter.

Verdict: Guilty, sentenced Friday to 80 years in prison

Roberts smothered her daughter Kelsey in August 2005. During the trial, defense
attorneys said Roberts was insane when she attacked her daughter, but
prosecutors argued that Roberts was trying to get even with her husband as the
couple went through a divorce last year.

Trial not yet scheduled

Valeria Maxon, Mansfield

Crime: Maxon is suspected of drowning her 1-year-old son June 30.

Verdict: A trial date has not been set.

Valeria Maxon is accused of drowning her son in the family's backyard hot tub.
Michael Maxon, Valeria's husband, told police his wife had been depressed and
was taking prescription antidepressants.

-- Compiled by Heather Ann White

SOURCE: Star-Telegram archives

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Nathaniel Jones, 817-548-5414 njones@...

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© 2006 Star-Telegram and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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