TRANQUIL LANEY HOME TRAGIC SCENE (Mom kills kids w/Rocks Trial)

The Tyler Morning Telegraph ^ | 3/31/04 | CASEY KNAUPP

[SoVerySad]

I usually come home after work and relax by playing puter games...But now I am transfixed on the televised events...I could spit at my t.v., it is so unreal...I went so far as to look up her name in the telephone book (not that I would call),but to see they were really that close to me...I despise her for what she did..Even if she is thought to be insane...Would you trust her back out in our life and on our streets?...No F*****G way

[Proud_texan]

Doubtful. Smith County juries are tough. From April, 2000:

---

"Last week, a Smith County jury recommended that Kenneth Payne, 29, spend 16 years in jail. Payne's crime? Stealing a Snickers bar from a Tyler, Texas grocery store on December 17, 1999. When Smith county Assistant District Attorney Jodi Brown was asked by the Associated Press how she could justify 16 years for the theft of a Snickers bar, Brown replied "It was a king size."

---

There's more to the story, that the guy was a scumbag and it was a handy way to get him off the streets but I've always enjoyed the "It was a king size" quip, reminded me of the old days when the first thing the sherrif would ask about someone who had been whacked: "Did he need killin'?"

[SoVerySad]

oh...BTW...I idolize my Lone Star and would have no other

[Texas2step]

I live 6 miles from this monster

Howdy neighbor. I'm just a few miles further away than you.

it horrifies me to think that something of this nature has happened in our small area

None of us are isolated to the evils of this world. Not in Tyler. Not in Arp. Not anywhere.

[Texas2step]

The husband still loves and supports his wife, testifying on her behalf

He only began testifying yesterday and I haven't read anything of testimony in support of his wife. Do you have additional sources?

[SoVerySad]

I live in Arp...Moved here 7 years ago from Houston...I wanted a small town for my boys to live and grow in...lol...But, Guess what...Ha...I still think I made a good decision...Arp has been good for us

[deport]

Laney continued to describe a loving, successful middle-class family with little debt and a devotion to one another and their church. He responded to questions from the defense that he still loves his wife and remains married to her.

[SoVerySad]

When I watched the trial on Monday...There was no eye contact between husband and wife...This was stated by the commentary...I am sure he may harbor somewhat of ill feelings for her...omg...He has to wonder about this woman that he thought he loved and trusted...Also, I heard she had an affair 15 yrs ago while they were together(not that it matters in this trial)

[Texas2step]

Arp has been good for us

My wife is from Arp and still has family there. Arp is indeed an excellent place. I kinda guessed that's where you were, which is why I mentioned it in my post. :-)

[Texas2step]

Well, he definitely is still married to her. That won't change unless there's a divorce or one of their deaths. Love is a funny thing. You can love someone without defending their actions.

And, he's not testifying for the defense, he was called as a state's witness and indicated he still loved his wife on cross examination. That does not mean he supports her either in reality or in testimony.

From the same article, Mrs. Laney's husband, Keith, ... testified Tuesday there was no indication through her emotions or actions prior to the murders that anything was wrong with his wife of 19 years.

"I don't understand it," he said.

That's what gets me. No indications of her mental instability. How the h#@@ does that happen?

[spectre]

Texas, show me ONE report that points to the contrary that he has not supported his wife and holds any ill feelings toward her?

Deport, I heard that testimony as well. Here:

"By John Springer Court TV

TYLER, Texas — Keith Laney still loves his wife. The fact that she killed their two sons and permanently injured a third because she thought God told her to hasn't changed that, the 47-year-old testified Tuesday at Dee Laney's capital murder trial. Wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans, Laney told jurors that he has tried over and over to make sense of what his wife did without warning on May 10, 2003.

He was asleep when Dee Laney used large rocks to attack her sons, and woke up after the killings were committed to find a sheriff's deputy standing in the doorway to his bedroom pointing a pistol at his face." snip

He still loves this coldblooded woman who murdered his boys? Unbelievable.

sw

[spectre]

So you think there must be something very wrong with Susan Smith's husband, because he loathes the air she breaths? He should STILL love her?

I want to hear this. Go for it.

sw

[Texas2step]

By John Springer Court TV

Any kin to Jerry? LOL.

show me ONE report that points to the contrary that he has not supported his wife and holds any ill feelings toward her?

SW, you started it, how about you show me one thing that indicates that he still "supports" his wife and/or "defends" her. You claimed that he is testifying on her behalf, and that's not an accurate statement. He is a witness for the state.

There's not a direct quote given about this statement of "love" so we don't know how it came out. In another report, the reporterette wrote "Keith Laney...still loves his wife and says he is still married to her". That would be consistent with a defense attorney asking questions and Keith Laney answering in the affirmative.

You take on statement about "love" and use it to attack him. I've seen nothing but good out of what I've read of this man who has had his world completely rocked by a woman he was married to for 19 years.

Just because we love someone doesn't mean we don't condemn their actions. At this point does he really know if he loves his wife or not, or is he still in shock over what's happened and doesn't really know what he feels for her?

But, the onus is on you, as the one who made the claims to begin with to show that he "supports" and "is testifying on her behalf". This man is in the saddest situation I could ever imagine being in.

A woman he loved killed his kids who he loved for absolutely no reason. There should be sympathy for him and not anger or hostility at him for not responding the way we think he ought to respond.

[Texas2step]

So you think there must be something very wrong with Susan Smith's husband, because he loathes the air she breaths? He should STILL love her?

I want to hear this. Go for it.

Nope, not at all. I don't believe I said anything that would indicate that I thought Susan's Smith's husband was wrong for "loathing the air she breaths".

Love is an individual choice that we all must make as it comes any person in our life. I'll not condemn Smith for his hate, and I'll not condemn Laney for his love.

Now, if I see something indicate that Laney is truly "supporting" his wife and is on her side in this thing, I would wholeheartedly condemn that. But, I'll not condemn any man's love for his wife, regardless of what actions they have taken.

[spectre]

OMG. Do you belong to their church?

I have sympathy for the two boys whose MOTHER smashed and bashed their heads in with a rock till they were bloody pulps. Try and visualize that. Do you think it didn't hurt? HUH?

Try and visualize the FIRST of her victims, the little baby, who is going to be BLIND and handicapped for the rest of his life because MOMMIE dearest bashed his head in. What is his sight worth? Just life in prison or a few years in a mental facility for Mommie?

She deserves the gas chamber but Texas won't allow it. Too bad. There is no justice for the boys. The Dad didn't even support them in DEATH. I don't know how he can look at her.

sw

[spectre]

I know what love is. You don't have a patent on it.

Just know, that IF they find that this woman was INSANE she will not get life in prison, just time in a mental institution till she "gets better".

Kumbaya and group hugs.

sw

[Texas2step]

OMG. Do you belong to their church?

Nope. Drawing conclusions, again? I do know someone who works with this man and has asked for prayer for this family. I'll be doing that.

I have sympathy for the two boys

Sympathy for the dead, but not the living?

Do you think it didn't hurt? HUH?

And where in hell do you draw these stupid remarks from? What statement have I made that indicated that I believed anything like this? I guess because I refuse to condemn a man's love for his wife you LEAP to the wild-assed conclusion that I have sympathy for this woman??!?!?

You are leaping to facts and feelings not even remotely supported by anything that's written. Did you not read my first comment calling this an atrocity? Did you not notice that I'm the one that posted this thread?

She deserves the gas chamber but Texas won't allow it.

In Texas we use a needle and it's called "lethal injection". But, that's beside the point. Again, you get your facts wrong. Yes, Texas will allow the DP, but the AD of Smith county has decided not to pursue it because if he lost she might walk completely. Course you won't let a little fact like that get in the way of slamming Texas justice.

The Dad didn't even support them in DEATH

And you make another asinine statement. You've got nothing at all to back up that comment. Nothing!

You have no idea what this man is going through. How does he support his dead sons? This man's world has been torn absolutely apart and he can't make any sense of it. He doesn't know what has happened to him.

I don't know how he can look at her.

Well, according to court testimony (radio media, so I don't have a link, but you can read Comment 28 by someone who heard on the radio) that he hasn't looked at her, in the court room, anyway.

But don't let little facts like that get in the way of the monster you've made this father out to be.

Look, I do not know this man. I don't know if he's a good man or not. I just cannot imagine being in his position. You are making judgements based on the affirmative answer from a defense attorney who asked, "Do you still love your wife?", and that's it. To you, that's support for his wife's actions. To you, that's testifying in the defense of his wife.

The person to be vilified here is Deanna Laney. Remember her? She's the one that took the 4 pound rock and bashed in her youngest son's head. She's the one who took at 10 pound rock and smashed in the head of her 6 year old son. She's the one who took a 16 pound rock (16 POUNDS!) and bashed in the head of her 8 year old son while she pinned his arms to the ground with her knees.

She's the evil one here. She's the one who killed her kids. Yes, somehow I have to believe you want to blame the father. Incredible.

[Texas2step]

I know what love is. You don't have a patent on it.

Never claimed to.

Just know, that IF they find that this woman was INSANE she will not get life in prison

You're not from Texas, are you? I mean, it's okay if you're not, you're just probably not too familiar with Texas courts.

I'm not going to guarantee it, but I'm betting the jury doesn't buy the INSANE plea. She does have the very best attorney money can buy, and he's probably doing just for the publicity, but I'm betting she loses and she does get life.

Smith county juries are about the toughest you can get in Texas (which says alot by itself) and we don't generally back down when called upon to enact real justice. We don't take kindly to ladies, crazy or not, who kill their kids, or anyone else's.

Kumbaya and group hugs.

Back atcha. :-) This kind of thing makes us all mad, and I can certainly understand it when people get upset. I know this atrocity both infuriates and saddens me.

[shicky]

no i'm not from texas .. in fact nj one of the most leftest states ever in my opinion..i really hope they find her guilty. I just don't understand how a parent can kill her kids. another reason why i said that statement a few yrs ago a mother lit her kids on fire and for some reason they let her out early.

[spectre]

Yes, I do believe that the father should at least be remorseful for buying his wife's little act of "changing the babies diaper" when his sleep was disturbed by the child's crying. Must have been part of God's plan as well. Ya think?

Me.."Do you belong to their Church""

YOU.. Nope. Drawing conclusions again?! I do know someone who works with this man and has asked for prayer for this family. I'll be doing that.

NOW, I understand. I nailed the personal connection, didn't I?

It always helps to know where someone is coming from :~)

Bye now.