Jury Weighs Case of Mom Who Killed 2 Sons

[Guest Anglesault]

Jury Weighs Case of Mom Who Killed 2 Sons

 

By LISA FALKENBERG

Associated Press Writer

 

 

TYLER, Texas (AP) -- A jury on Saturday began deliberating whether a homemaker was insane when she used rocks to bludgeon two of her sons to death and severely injure a third after receiving what she claimed were orders from God.

 

Deanna Laney, sitting several feet away from a poster-sized portrait of her three children, wept uncontrollably as prosecutors portrayed the killings last Mother's Day weekend as deceptively planned and coldly executed.

 

"It was graphic, it was horrific and it was brutal," prosecutor Matt Bingham told the jury during closing arguments earlier Saturday.

 

Laney, 39, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder in the deaths of 8-year-old Joshua and 6-year-old Luke, and serious injury to a child for the beating of Aaron, now 2.

 

Bingham pounded his fist in his hand as he recounted Joshua's killing: "He got strike after strike after strike on his head to the point that his brains were coming out of his head like liquid."

 

Defense attorney Tonda Curry began her argument by asking the jury why a deeply religious woman known as a loving, devoted mother who homeschooled her children would kill two of her children and maim another without so much as a tear.

 

"There was no crying," Curry said. "She was insane. There is no other answer."

 

She recalled a tape of Laney calling 911 after midnight on May 10, calmly reporting the murders and directing authorities to her home.

 

"Do you remember that voice?" Curry asked the jurors, who sat solemn faced, some appearing pensive. "Have you ever heard a voice like that, so empty of emotion?"

 

About three hours into deliberations, the jury asked Judge Cynthia Kent for the 911 tape, the transcript of that call and the testimony of Laney's husband, Keith. The judge agreed to give jurors only the tape, saying the transcript had not been admitted as evidence and that jurors could review Keith Laney's testimony only if they cite a specific disagreement over it.

 

Curry stressed that five psychiatric experts, including one hired by the judge and two by the prosecution, concluded that a severe mental illness caused psychotic delusions and made Laney incapable of knowing right from wrong during the killings - the standard in Texas for insanity.

 

"We have five consistent medical opinions that say she's insane and none to the contrary," Curry said.

 

If Laney is found innocent by reason of insanity, she would be committed to a hospital for treatment. Medical evaluations would dictate when she would be released.

 

If convicted of capital murder, she would be sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole in 40 years. If convicted of serious injury to a child, a first-degree felony, the sentence could range from five years to 99 years or life.

 

Laney, who home-schooled her children in the tiny town of New Chapel Hill, 100 miles southeast of Dallas, was convinced she was divinely chosen by God to kill her children last Mother's Day weekend, psychiatrists testified.

 

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

I think there's something in the water in Texas.

[2GOLD 0]

If she gets sent to a hospital for beating her kids to death with rocks, then I no longer have faith in humanity.

 

Get a gun. Load it. Back of her head. Next case.

[Highland 0]

A jury on Saturday began deliberating whether a homemaker was insane when she used rocks to bludgeon two of her sons to death and severely injure a third after receiving what she claimed were orders from God.

 

This seems to be a recurring theme, doesn't it?

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

A jury on Saturday began deliberating whether a homemaker was insane when she used rocks to bludgeon two of her sons to death and severely injure a third after receiving what she claimed were orders from God.

 

This seems to be a recurring theme, doesn't it?

Yeah it means it's time we take God to court and sue his ass. Come on you know it's going to happen.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Awww, poor woman -- hope she gets some therapy. Maybe her and A. Yates can be penpals or something...

[Guest Anglesault]

kkk, you're a better man than I.

 

I'm only good at making uber-pro murderer jokes when a kid is the murderer.

 

Notice I neevr said "liberal" in that description, so don't start whining.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Well I can't stand the human race as a whole -- doesn't matter if it's a kid or adult.

 

EDIT: Great, Rant's reading this -- I'm sure I'll be getting cracked with the ruler now...

[MrRant 0]

I think we need a good old fashioned witch stoning.

[MrRant 0]

Well I can't stand the human race as a whole -- doesn't matter if it's a kid or adult.

 

EDIT: Great, Rant's reading this -- I'm sure I'll be getting cracked with the ruler now...

And I use the yardstick rulers too bitch.

 

[Guest Anglesault]

Well I can't stand the human race as a whole -- doesn't matter if it's a kid or adult.

I hate everyone as well, but I guess I have a problem with child murderers (Not men that kill children, although I hate them as well) because people are so damn willing to excuse them.

 

Because, after all, not all kids know that fire boom-boom sticks cause boo boos.

[Slayer 0]

Anglesault hates things?

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Because, after all, not all kids know that fire boom-boom sticks cause boo boos.

Then you'll love this:

 

(I'm not comparing this story to the one already posted -- this is just for AS...)

 

Zappala says mailman shooting wasn't intentional

Friday, April 02, 2004

 

By Jonathan D. Silver, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

The boy believed to have inadvertently killed a mailman last summer with his mother's handgun picked up the weapon after his younger sister knocked it off a closet shelf while searching for a doll, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said yesterday.

 

In announcing he will not pursue criminal charges against the 10-year-old suspected of firing the shot that killed Clayton J. Smith, Zappala said the children stumbled upon the .380-caliber handgun when they were home alone in their Ingram apartment June 23.

 

"As she reached for the doll, the handgun came down and fell on her foot," Zappala said. Her brother, who was then 9, took the gun into another room and fired once from the second-story window, according to authorities.

 

Federal investigators said the boy told them he was aiming at a tree. Smith was standing on the other side of that tree, part of a thick swath of foliage that Zappala said totally obscured the mailman from the boy's vision.

 

The bullet hit Smith in the back, bringing him down in the parking lot of the Crafton-Ingram Shopping Center.

 

Zappala said investigators were still looking into whether the boy disposed of the shell casing, which has not been found.

 

Zappala said he officially referred the case to county Solicitor Michael Wojcik a week ago, essentially sending it on a civil trajectory rather than a criminal one.

 

Children 7 or older can be charged with murder in Pennsylvania if they kill someone with malice and intent, Zappala said.

 

If a death is unintentional, however, the case is handled differently. Had the boy been 10 when he fired the gun, Zappala said, he would have been charged with involuntary manslaughter. But because he was 9, the matter is handled in a different fashion in Family Court.

 

At issue is not the child's guilt or innocence -- although Zappala said evidence would have to be introduced showing that the boy killed Smith -- but where he will be placed and who will raise him.

 

In explaining his decision, Zappala made a clear distinction: "This is not an accidental killing," he said. "This is an unintentional killing."

 

In other words, Zappala said, the boy acted with recklessness and negligence.

 

Wojcik plans to meet today with Marc Cherna, the county's director of human services. Wojcik said he has formed a team of assistant solicitors to handle the "high-profile" case.

 

Wojcik anticipates the county's Office of Children, Youth and Families will conduct an investigation of the child's living conditions, both while under his mother's care in Ingram and currently.

 

The boy is believed to be with his grandmother, Wanda Askew, of North Carolina. She declined comment yesterday.

 

While Zappala will not file charges against the boy, a decision has not been made by U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan whether to pursue federal charges against him.

 

Similarly, Zappala will wait until federal charges against the boy's mother, Latoya Burnette, are resolved before deciding whether he will also charge her.

 

Buchanan's office has filed a complaint against Burnette, 30, for illegally having a handgun. She was arrested March 20 in North Carolina, where authorities recovered the weapon used to kill Smith.

 

Burnette has a felony conviction in North Carolina for assault with a deadly weapon, making it illegal for her to have a firearm, according to an affidavit filed by U.S. postal inspectors.

 

Zappala said he found it "extremely troubling" that Burnette left her children home alone and provided what he described as easy access to her gun, which was left on a cluttered shelf alongside children's toys.

[Guest Anglesault]

The kid needs to be sent to the god damn stupid farm.

 

I must have been an acceptional child, or I had like primo parents, but I knew randomly shooting a gun into the air was a BAD thing. I actually had a very healthy knowledge and respect for guns, having fired a hand gun a couple of times.

 

Not advocating taking little nine year old Timmy to the firing range, but at least explain to the twat what a gun does.

[Guest OctoberBlood]

I was simi-following the case during weekday on CourtTV (that station fucking rules), and it was pretty sick and pathetic, so after a few days I just stopped listening. She deserves the chair.

[Guest Anglesault]

Jury Acquits Texas Mother Who Killed Sons

2 minutes ago  Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

 

By LISA FALKENBERG, Associated Press Writer

 

TYLER, Texas - A housewife who said God told her to bash her sons' skulls with rocks was acquitted Saturday of capital murder and serious injury to a child after a jury determined she was legally insane during the killings.

 

 

A jury of eight men and four women deliberated for about seven hours before determining that Deanna Laney, 39, did not know right from wrong last Mother's Day weekend when she killed 8-year-old Joshua and 6-year-old Luke in the front yard and left Aaron, now 2, maimed in his crib.

 

 

Laney broke into tears as the verdict was read. Her husband, Keith Laney, sat emotionless. A few jurors cried and struggled to maintain their composure.

 

People suck.

[Highland 0]

If I ever decide to commit a capital crime in Texas, I'll just use God as my defense, it seems to work every time.

[lomasmoney 0]

If I ever decide to commit a capital crime in Texas, I'll just use God as my defense, it seems to work every time.

and you will get off too because of all the fucking Bible-Thumping rednecks down there.

[MrRant 0]

*coughVigilanteJusticecough*

[sfaJack 0]

If I ever decide to commit a capital crime in Texas, I'll just use God as my defense, it seems to work every time.

and you will get off too because of all the fucking Bible-Thumping rednecks down there.

You're a moron. Cite me more cases where we (meaning Texans) have been known to be particularly soft on folks. Have you ever been here? Do you know ANYTHING about juries in Texas?

 

We don't lead the nations in executions by a mile and a half for nothing, you know. Shit, we got pissed off when the U.S. SC declared the execution of retards to be unconstitutional!

 

We blew this one, I'll give you that, but I promise you it had nothing to do with all of us being "Bible-thumping rednecks."

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Look at that chick who ran into that homeless guy and left him to die in her garage (99 percent sure this happened in Texas). From what I remember she got a pretty harsh sentence. (Please note I'm saying the jury should have went easy on her.)

 

Of course the harsher sentence probably wasn't too hard for the jury to give out since she was also black, but that's another story...

[MrRant 0]

Look at that chick who ran into that homeless guy and left him to die in her garage (99 percent sure this happened in Texas). From what I remember she got a pretty harsh sentence. (Please note I'm saying the jury should have went easy on her.)

 

Of course the harsher sentence probably wasn't too hard for the jury to give out since she was also black, but that's another story...

They should have gone easier on her?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I know I sure wouldn't have...

[sfaJack 0]

Of course the harsher sentence probably wasn't too hard for the jury to give out since she was also black, but that's another story...

Yeah...we're all a bunch of RACIST~! rednecks, as well. Nothing better than putting on our Klan hoods, reciting a few scriptures, and then stringin' 'em up.

 

YEE HAW!

[Guest Anglesault]

Of course the harsher sentence probably wasn't too hard for the jury to give out since she was also black, but that's another story...

Yeah...we're all a bunch of RACIST~! rednecks, as well. Nothing better than putting on our Klan hoods, reciting a few scriptures, and then stringin' 'em up.

 

YEE HAW!

Strinin' 'em up is so 50 years ago.

 

Now you drag them behind cars.

[Guest MikeSC]

Awww, poor woman -- hope she gets some therapy. Maybe her and A. Yates can be penpals or something...

Who's for a road trip to give her a great big ol' hug? I'll supply the nachos!

-=Mike

[Guest Anglesault]

I'll pay for gas!

 

Well, no, but I won't tell you that until we reach the gas station!

[Guest MikeSC]

I'll pay for gas!

 

Well, no, but I won't tell you that until we reach the gas station!

You bastard! I'll kill --- I mean vigorously HUG you!!!!

-=Mike

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Is there anyone who doesn't think this sorry excuse for a human should fry? I'm fairly left leaning, but this woman deserves nothing but death.

 

She's an insane murderer. I mean, what the hell. Only sane ones get killed? It makes no sense.

[MrRant 0]

Kinda off isn't it? Catch your wife riding another guy and you blow her and him away and you get the chair... yet stone your KIDS to death because "God" told you too and you need "help".

 

I'd rather let the guy who blew his wife and her lover away not get the chair.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I'm curious to know if this poor soul in dire need of therapy would have gotten the same sentence if she was a he...