I think that the defense is going to have to walk a very fine line with trying to blame any of this on Casey's upbringing. There are many, many people who had the same type of family life that Casey had that have gone on to live normal lives without committing acts of violence towards anyone. All it would take is for one juror to have a similar background (upbringing) as Casey for the rest of the jury to realize what a lame excuse this is. It does not matter if you were loved as a child or not, had a strict upbringing or lax one, had parents that covered for you or made you own up to your mistakes......none of that makes it acceptable to do the things that Casey has done. Casey knows right from wrong, Casey had normal friends that she behaved normally around. You can only blame the parents to a certain extent and that still does not excuse what a person has done and if they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law or not.
JMO
ITA and is what I was trying to say in my earlier post. People who sit on jury's are not idiots.. IMO it will not work if the defense tries to blame Casey's parents for her killing her child. I don't think people realize how many of people in this country have been raised in much the same manner and never
dream of murdering their children. I don't care if Casey was sexually, emotionally and physically abused, so were millions of other Americans and they don't go on to become murderers. Jurors know this!
This part of my post is not in response to
your post-
I see we are back at trying to point at Bipolar as an excuse for murder. :banghead: Bipolar doesn't remove ones soul. It's personality disorders,
not mood disorders that house things like lack of empathy and/or remorse, splitting, enmeshment, "crazy making" behaviors, failure to conform to social norms, consistent irresponsibility, blatent disregard for others, inability to maintain relationships, Failure to accept responsibility for their actions or trying to "rationalize" their behaviors, fears of abandonment, low tolerance for frustration, Shallow affect, lack of realistic, long-term goals, superficial charm and feelings of entitlement, uses others to achieve their own ends (the end justifies the means).
Really, the stigma attatched to each of these disorders is enough why do we want to keep adding more by claiming things that are just not true? Living with mental illness is hard but when you say "I have Bipolar" and have people assume you are a danger to others is stomach turning. The only things personality disorders and Bipolar have in common is the fluctuating of moods and impulsivity. We are more a danger to ourselves than we could ever be to anyone else.. We feel more than "normal" people do and once the mania has passed, our guilt eats us alive.
Sure Casey texted all night and went clubbing and had sex with whoever (
typical Borderline behavior) if you are suggesting that's because she was manic at that time- when do you suggest she was depressed? This behavior went on a looong time, when did she crash? Never IMO. This is just who she is, typical of the personality disordered.
