On February 26, 2015 Jenea Ann Mungia was found outside of her Huston Texas home stabbing her 4 year old son with a kitchen knife. When police arrived on the scene they found Mugina naked from the waist up and smashing the 4 year old’s head against concrete. Police had to wrestle her off the boy and during the altercation Mugina repeatedly told police to shoot her. Police also found that the boy’s genitals were partially mutilated. The boy survived the attack and made a full recovery and is currently living with his father. Mugina was found to be suffering from Postpartum Psychosis after the birth of her son which lawyers used to prove that she was insane during incident. Mungia was initially held in the Harris County jail for more than a year …show more content…
The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) was used to help diagnose Mugina’s mental illness and while it does describe the symptoms of psychosis disorders it does not recognize Postpartum Psychosis as a disorder ,which leads to one of the problems of the DSM and that is why are certain disorders included and others not (Bennell, Forth, Pozzulo). Also at the time Mugina was arrested she was found not competent to stand trial by the MacAuthror Asessment Tool and was given medication to restore competence which it indeed did since Postpartum Psychosis is a treatable mental illness. (Bennell, Forth, Pozzulo). Also Mugina was given tests to see if she was truly insane during the crime. In Texas they use the McNaughton standard and the Irresistible Impulse Test. It is not known which test was used to evaluate Mugina, but based on the crime it can be implied the Irresistible Impulse was used because since she told police to shoot her at the scene of the crime it can be assumed she knew she what she was doing was wrong. And according to the Irresistible Impulse Test if a defendant is cognitively aware of what is right or wrong, but cannot stop himself or herself from behaving in a particular way, the defendant could still be found not guilty by reason of insanity. This is the most likely reason on how Mugina was found …show more content…
I am angry because of what she did to a defenseless 4yr old boy, which is her own son nonetheless, but also sorry for because her mental illness must have been tough on her and could probably made her act in ways she couldn’t control. When Mungia recovered from her illness she feels awful and disgusted with herself. She couldn’t believe what she had done to her only son and knows that she will most likely never see him again, but says she will always love him even if he doesn’t. The disorder she had was Postpartum Psychosis is a terrifying mental illness that affects a small percentage of women after birth and it causes hallucinations, mood swings, and delusions and much more it is reasonable to conclude a person suffering this illness would not be in control of their actions if they commit crimes because they don’t know what’s real or fake. While it is a rare illness I believe that it needs to be recognized in DSM because others suffering from this illness could potentially be misdiagnosed with something else since it’s not stated in it. Also it could also be a way for a prosecution team to get a conviction by stating that since the medical community does not officially recognize it as a disorder then the defendant doesn’t meets the legal terms for insanity. In conclusion the case of Jenea Ann Mugina is a sad one because of her mental illness she was ripped apart from her son even though it seems that it wasn’t
Justin Gravely February 7, 2018 Practical Law Juvenile Justice Cyntoia Brown Cyntoia Brown was a minor who was convicted of murder and robbery at the age of sixteen years old now thirty years old she is facing a remaining thirty six years in prison before she is eligible for a parole hearing. In August 2004 she murdered and robbed John Mitchell a man that was soliciting her for sex. Cyntoia was in John's bedroom where she had noticed a gun cabinet earlier, Cyntoia claimed she was resisting Johns advancement when he then turned and reached beside the bed. Cyntoia then got her pistol from her purse and shot john in the back of the head. Cyntoia claimed she feared for her life and felt it was her only option.
Killer mother, who stomped her baby girl to death has her face slashed in prison in ‘revenge attack’ by two inmates. Recants videotaped statement Juvelky Jimenez Staff Writer A drug addict mother stomped her 3 year old baby girl to death, Olivia (age 26) had her face slashed in prison by two inmates in a ‘revenge attack’ of what she did to her daughter. Everything had happened in Portland, Oregon. Olivia Jackson was accused of murder last week, her partner John Jackson was found guilty for letting the murder happen.
Ms. Morgan reported she does not know when she will reschedule the appointment. Ms. Morgan was admitted to the hospital on 7/18/2015 and unable to care for her children, Thianna and Henry. Thianna and Henry were released to relatives on the night of 7/18/2015 and are currently in the care of their maternal grandmother, Shantel Morgan. Ms. Morgan gave her mother provisional custody of the children. Ms. Morgan reported she is unable to care for her children on her own at this
Andrea Yates crime moved the United States in an astonishing way. This crime impacted both the officers and the families all around the United States due to the horrendous Crime Andrea committed. Andre killed her 5 children including her precious baby girl. What most the the American public ask themselves was, what lead her to kill her children and how can we stop it for ever happening to a family again. Even though Andrea Yates was affected by a combination of Social,Biological, and Psychological factors the factor that triggered her insanity was Biological and Psychological.
Based on the legal definitions and description of court cases in relation to those definitions, Ana’s case can correlate with the insanity defense due to her reaction to the crime. As stated previously, while asleep in the park a male attempted to wake the client up causing her to go into a rage yelling “ Get off of me!” as she stabs this individual. After committing the crime Ana then went to into a state of sobbing, as well as being easy to calm down. Ana was also able to cooperate during her arrest, but she did not want to discuss what had occurred.
Ayla’s conduct was ultimately influenced by her mental instability and is subject to the law of section 2 of the Criminal Code of Canada [hereinafter, Code], the fitness to stand trial, and 16(1), which is the defence of mental disorder. Though these two laws may appear to be similar with one another as they handle offenders with mental disorders, they have distinct features and case laws which sets them apart, providing crucial elements for fairness of trial regarding those who are Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD). At the end of the trial, Ayla’s disposition will be determined if she is found to be NCRMD by the Crown. Before one can plead for NCRMD, one must undergo the test for fitness to stand trial.
Prosecutor Park Dietz had claimed in his testimony that Andrea had gotten her idea to drown the children from an episode of Law and Order, in which a woman drowned her own children but got away with it through the insanity defense. The producers of the television show later came forward and stated that no such episode existed, Dietz simply melded together parts of separate programs. The Texas Court of Appeals decided that was reason enough for a retrial, considering the jury’s difficult primary decision could have been biased by false information. So, on June 26, 2006, five years after her sentencing to life in prison, Andrea’s retrial began. The prime reason why it is so difficult to declare someone not guilty by reason of insanity in Texas is the M’Naghten Rule.
The judge investigating Kim’s case requested a Forensic Mental Health Assessment (FMHA) be conducted (de Ruiter & Kaser-Boyd, 2015). The FMHA conducted consisted of forensic assessment instruments such as a standardized psychometric test of adult personality and psychopathology, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). Also used was the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) and the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality (de Ruiter & Kaser-Boyd, 2015). The MMPI-2 was used in this case to assess Kim’s personality traits and psychopathology. The SIRS was conducted to assess malingering of mental disorders and related response styles.
Unlike serial killers with psychopathy they manipulate the system to benefit their own means to an end. Allowing this disorder to fall into the insanity defense would feed into their disorder in that it would allow for the manipulation of the system to
she was doing was wrong/illegal. The Caretaker should be considered insane because he is trying to convince everyone that he is sane. This is evident when he says,”Ha!-would a madman have been so wise as this” (90). This proves that he is insane because he is trying to prove that he is not insane.
Andrea Yates was born on July 2, 1964 in Houston, Texas. She was the youngest of five children and grew up in a Catholic household. She graduated from Milby High School in 1982. Yates was involved in many extracurricular activities including the swim team and the National Honor Society. Yates had a seemingly typical childhood and life thereafter that.
Often times when a person is found not guilty of insanity they are taken to a mental institution. They soon get treated and then every so often they get a release hearing. Both authors brought up the fact that at the hearings, the roles reverse and the defense has to prove sanity and the government has to prove insanity, which only adds fuel to the confusion and contradictions. The authors agree that the
Brooklyn Farley Miss. DeLong Practical Law 7th February 2018 Exploring the Juvenile Justice System: Cyntoia Brown Cyntoia Brown was sentenced to life in prison at the young age of only sixteen after fatally shooting Johnny Allen. She is currently imprisoned at the Tennessee Prison For Women. Georgina Mitchell, Cyntoia’s biological mother, drank while she was pregnant causing Cyntoia to become diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, affecting her behavior to be impulsive and rational decision making (Guy). At the age of two, Cyntoia was given up for adoption to Ellenette Brown after her mother started using crack cocaine.
For Dena Schlosser, the issue of insanity was less clear. In Schlosser’s first trial, the jury ended up deadlocked as to whether or not Schlosser was legally insane under the Texas insanity defense law. Similarly, in the second trial, the defense and prosecution let the judge decide the verdict, which was not guilty by reason of insanity, and it was revealed that Schlosser had a brain tumor, which could have led to her religious delusions telling her to cut off her baby’s arms, fatally injuring the daughter (New York Times). In the simpler case of Deanna Laney, Laney suffered religious delusions that led her to crush her sons’ skull with rocks, and the expert witness, Park Dietz, said, “Laney didn’t realize her actions were wrong, which means she was legally insane under Texas Law” (NBC). All five psychiatric experts in the trial said Laney qualified as insane under the Texas due to a “severe mental illness [that] caused Laney to have psychotic delusions that rendered her incapable of knowing right from wrong during the killings” (USA TODAY).
She was emotionally very disturbed and socially withdrawn following the incident. In addition, she was also depressed with insomnia, poor appetite and had significant weight loss. She felt hopeless and worthless but not having suicidal ideation. Her decision for