Posted on 12/14/2004 4:45:48 PM PST by yonif
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) - A mother who admitted killing her baby daughter by severing the girl's arms was guided by a Bible passage in which Jesus refers to cutting off body parts to cast away sin, the woman's attorney said Tuesday.
Dena Schlosser, a 35-year-old housewife with a history of mental illness, has referred to the New Testament passage since the killing of 10-month-old Margaret, attorney David Haynes told The Associated Press.
In the Book of Matthew, Jesus says: ``If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.''
Schlosser was charged with capital murder Nov. 22, after she told a 911 operator she had cut off her baby's arms. Police found her in the living room, covered in blood, still holding a knife and listening to a hymn.
Haynes said Schlosser was mentally ill at the time.
He said Schlosser is still disoriented but is improving under medication she is receiving in jail.
``She knows the baby is dead,'' he said. ``I think she understands generally the physical facts of how that came to be, but she is now conscious that her mind has not been clear for years and she's still coming to grips with that.''
Schlosser had been hospitalized for postpartum depression in January as part of an investigation by the state's child-protection agency. Social workers said she exhibited symptoms of psychosis but improved with medication and psychiatric help, and the agency closed the investigation in August.
This is the website of the "church " this lady attended:
http://www.doyledavidson.com/
No kidding.
ROFL! Geraldine seriously needs a new advocate!
Wonderful. Another excuse to smear pentecostals. [/sarcasm]
My question is, if that scripture led her to do it, why didn't she cut off her own arm. The baby was innocent...
The Bible passage refers to a comparison, and to individual choice. Just as an infant has committed no atrocity to deserve to be killed inside the womb, likewise outside. This mother should be locked up.
Speaking of Andrea, whadaya think about her appeal?
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the turnip that is in thine own? ;)
You are right.
It won't matter that you are correct, and that you know from personal experience, to some on this forum.
It matters to me.
Thank you.
There's no interest in Texas in retrying this case, nor any compelling legal reason to require it.
When the political reasons and the legal reasons align, it's usually a slam dunk.
The radio newscasters were spinning it like this is the crucial point on which the case hinged, that the jurors mostly decided she planned it based on a "Law and Order" episode that never aired. It sounded a little weak to me.
man, people are QUICK around here...
The image of a turnip in someone's eye was just too evocative for me to pass up. Talk about a great visual!
Nope. First of all, she doesn't understand what the Bible is saying. But putting that aside, the passage certainly was not referring to taking action against other people. So, if she really believed that then she should have cut off her own hand not someone else's.
I think there's more than that. I have a feeling that the leftist media is using this tragedy to make all religious people look like lunatics.
Some simple advice to this murderous bi*ch: dump this moron of a lawyer.
No..............on second thought...........keep 'im.
Oh yeah.....right....the BIBLE made her kill her baby.....THIS is the TRUE meaning of "Taking the Lord's Name in Vain"!!!! I detest these people.
Just a minister. This isn't his fault. Just like it's not the bible's fault. The woman is obviously insane. Any woman who cuts off her child's arms has got to be insane. There is no other option. That poor child.
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