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He beat her and murdered her son - And she got 45 years in jail
dee123
Posts: 46,273 Forum Member
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A long read but an interesting, sad, maddening and bewildering one as well. I don't get it. I just don't get it. Do other countries have laws like this?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexcampbell/how-the-law-turns-battered-women-into-criminals#4gt2jjb
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexcampbell/how-the-law-turns-battered-women-into-criminals#4gt2jjb
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She didn't kill anybody. From what I can make out, the charge was derived from a failure to protect her young child from the guy that murdered him.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/10/03/buzzfeed_domestic_violence_investigation_how_victims_are_imprisoned_for.html
The issue isn't that she tried to run with the child that night but why didn't she remove him when the abuse first started. It was her responsibility to keep him safe.
Her child was beaten and abused for months. What did she do to keep him safe?
Wow!
That article really is trying it's hardest to be controversial, isn't it?
A couple of hundred words about an incident involving breakfast cereal, painting the father as a nutcase and the mother as a scared, innocent, bystander, and then a single sentence skimming over the rest of the day which ended with the child dead.
I haven't googled anything about this case but I'd be willing to bet that, if I did, it'd reveal that the extent of this woman's culpability went far beyond being a frightened, intimidated, unwilling accomplice.
She was a victim of sustained domestic violence. That often has a significant and severe effect on the decisions you make and the thought processes you have. She may well have thought that trying to leave would have resulted in both her and her child's death. It's very easy to say "Why didn't she leave?" but if it was that simple, there would be far less DV
I read the full article the other evening - there are examples where the (abused) mother has received a longer sentence than the abuser!
but then it was in America,& could have got 145yrs. instead of 45yrs.
The woman should have ensured her child was safe but this is obviously a tragic case and domestic violence isn't always clear cut black and white.
I think 45 years is excessive as I'm sure she tried to protect her child and wasn't one of these people who knew the child was being abused and simply didn't care/ turned a blind eye as you sadly sometimes hear about.
It seems she was. The article says he had been abused and beaten for months. She was still with her boyfriend despite that.
Just read this after posting.
Sometimes leaving a violent partner can be one of the most dangerous times.
There are numerous cases of women being murdered after leaving an abusive partner.
However if there's a 3 year old child being abused then she should have left him and moved to a safe house somewhere that he wouldn't find them.
Best thing to do is to wait til the abuser goes to work or goes out, pack your bags and just leave without saying as packing your bags in front of abuser will likely lead to confrontation.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1277580-lindley-sentencing-transcript.html
Seems she was offered a 10 year sentence for a guilty plea.
It could have been out of fear.
That's shocking.
So many horror stories involving babies and children.
I think I read a while back a case of a man who was jailed for beating a baby to death and in court with him was a heavily pregnant girlfriend.
Thankfully he got jailed as I dread to think what would have happened to the soon to arrive baby.
How these men get women is beyond me.
Yes, the general view is that as a mother in an abusive situation, it's your duty to be killed than allowing your child to be killed if you somehow failed to contact the police or hospital.
Well, I'm sure she, and her lawyers, would love to paint her that way.
Seems like there are, however, also an awful lot of people who're in mutually abusive relationships and who're, basically, just feral and don't give a toss about anybody or anything.
Maybe the jury, here, was made up of pious, self-righteous people who judged her harshly but, OTOH, maybe she actually got the sentence her behaviour warranted and she's just trying to re-invent herself retrospectively.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1277580-lindley-sentencing-transcript.html
Number. 188
45 years is a ridiculous sentence to be handed for this though. America, as always, is ridiculous with their sentencing. Maybe only some states are, I dunno.
In many of those countries the woman is often blamed for the violence and the man gets off scott free.
And, as in Britain, the man with a serious list of violent behaviour, was not jailed but always returned home to continue. She feared his return if she turned him in.