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To: Dog Gone
What's your take on the sentencing phase that will occur. I suspect it will be one 'Nay' to one of the questions... thus a life sentence.....
53 posted on 03/12/2002 2:33:20 PM PST by deport
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To: deport
What's your take on the sentencing phase that will occur. I suspect it will be one 'Nay' to one of the questions... thus a life sentence.....

The jury is going to be asked if she poses a threat to society. Answer: Yes. Left alone with another child, there is a substantial risk to that child's health.

The other question is whether there are any mitigating circumstances.

The question there is whether her mental health was a mitigating circumstance. Should she be punished less because of it?

That's a far more interesting question, and one I suspect the jury will take much longer to deliberate. My guess is that they will consider it a mitigating factor and sentence her to life instead of death.

However, the speed in which this jury returned a verdict didn't indicate that anybody was wavering as to whether she was morally culpable. And, ironically, a death sentence might be more merciful than life imprisonment for her.

I'm less certain about the punishment than I was about the verdict. I'd put maybe a 75% chance on NO death penalty.

60 posted on 03/12/2002 2:46:06 PM PST by Dog Gone
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