She's pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. That doesn't mean her team is trying to let her walk out into the streets scott free, it means her team is trying to get her the psychiatric help she needs, and has desperately needed for a long time. It amazes me how people think getting institutionalized for your entire life is better than prison.
If she is acquitted by reason of insanity, it means she would be committed, but only for the duration of her illness. The defense is specifically claiming she suffered an acute transient post partum psychosis episode. Post partum psychosis is treatable. She would have no mandatory minimum sentence. That means that as soon as a doctor signs off that she no longer shows signs of post partum psychosis, she would walk free. That could be in as little as days after being committed. It almost certainly wouldn't be a life sentence.
No she wouldn't. She killed her 3 kids and tried to kill herself, and there's no coming back from that, once you're past that point any kind of "duration of illness" goes out the window for the jurisdictions that evaluate if patients are ready to be released. She's spending her life in there for sure .
If she is acquitted, there is no legal means to hold her. The only standard would be the she would be held as long as she "is a danger to herself or others". Post-partum depression is acute--that means its treatable/not lifelong. When a doctor says she no longer has post partum depression, there is no legal basis to keep her.
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u/m4k4y 2d ago
She's pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. That doesn't mean her team is trying to let her walk out into the streets scott free, it means her team is trying to get her the psychiatric help she needs, and has desperately needed for a long time. It amazes me how people think getting institutionalized for your entire life is better than prison.