Grandmother gets 50 years in fatal stabbing she claims to not recall (Chicago)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | January 28, 2013 | RUMMANA HUSSAIN

[rightwingintelligentsia]

A South Side grandmother was sentenced to 50 years in prison Monday for murdering her next-door neighbor in frenzied stabbing she said she doesn’t remember.

Phyllis Hart Carpenter attacked Benjamin Cole in the most “brutal and violent” manner by slashing him 59 times, Cook County Judge Arthur Hill said.

And even if Cole, 60, had tried to sexually assault her in his apartment as Carpenter claims, “How many stab wounds [does she need] to defend herself? When does that cross the line to rage and revenge?” the judge asked.

Assistant public defenders Julie Koehler and Sandra Parris argued during Carpenter’s November jury trial that Carpenter had lashed out at Cole after he pinned her on his bed and tried to rape her on the morning of Aug. 2, 2006.

Carpenter doesn’t remember hurting Cole because she went into a dissociative state due to the trauma she endured when she was raped as a child, Koehler said.

[Persevero]

So you are supposed to stop stabbing when you cross the magic line of self-defense to vengeance?

How on earth do they prove that.

If someone is raping me, I think I’d better stab him until I am sure he is dead. Is there something wrong with that?

[bikerman]

Must have a touch of Hillery Flu.

[Carriage Hill]

The amount of ammo needed is determined after the gunfight.

The number of stabs needed is determined after the perp stops breathing.

Not guilty. Case dismissed.

[IMR 4350]

I understand it.

Little SOB almost bit my finger off.

Had they not pulled me off him he probably wouldn’t have been alive when I finished with him.

He probably would have been a goner long before I finished with him.

[circlecity]

Sounds like the jury didn’t believe her rape story. Not surprising given that she claim not to remember the murder but does remember the attempted rape, which essentially happened at the same time.

[BBell]

From the article:

The day of the murder, Willie Mae Cole was on the phone with her brother “shooting the breeze” when he suddenly said “hold on a minute” and the line went dead. An hour later, Willie Mae Cole got a call from her daughter, telling her that her brother with the “boastful laugh” was dead.

I just thought I would fill you in on some details since no one bothers to read the articles anymore. There is more but you will have to read it yourselves.

[Persevero]

“I just thought I would fill you in on some details since no one bothers to read the articles anymore. There is more but you will have to read it yourselves. “

I did read it.

However, I am not sure why I am supposed to believe the victim’s sister over and above the statement of the accused.

I don’t know whether this woman is innocent or guilty. But the number of stab wounds is not relevant. She admits doing it! The REASON is what is important.