by Poztate 32 Replies latest jw friends
steve2:
Sounds a bit ambiguous to say the least, huh?
Sigh. The report says:
The stepfather rushed back to the bathroom with 911 still on the phone and heard his wife say "Jehovah," the affidavit said.
Then the bathroom door opened and Isabella walked out, holding a knife downward in her right hand, the stepfather said.
Adam, I hold firmly to the view that, whilst courts do take into consideration "mitigating" circumstances, each individual is responsible for purposeful and threatened acts of interpersonal violence. The daughter had stated in an earlier communication that her mother would "pay"; no doubt the prosecution will adduce this to argue it was not a crime of loss of impulse control but a premeditated act. Courts view premeditated acts of violence more severely than evident in-the-moment losses of control.
And, of course, it will be over to her defense team to articulate the likely mitigating factors to which you refer. In cases such as this, the "other" side (the mother's account) will not be heard because she is dead and cannot answer to the way defense teams often question the victim's own behaviour. BTW, I view the victim as being the mother, not the daughter - on that basis alone, I acknowledge that I may part company with other's views on this.
The fact is, acts of violence by those who have suffered at the hands of the Watchtower are extremely rare - which means that, by far, most people who have suffered at the hands of the Watchtower do not resort to violence, but do manage to regulate their emotions often under very trying conditions. I also acknowledge that, as yet, there is no further information on the JW connection - the sole tidbit is the mother reported as saying "Jehovah".
Jeffro I take on board the quote from the report. An earlier poster said the victim had "yelled" out "Jehovah"; the report said the ex-husband heard her "say" "Jehovah". You could reason that she must have yelled or called out or you could just stick to what the ex-husband said. I guess a fuller account of the matter will subsequently emerge. It illustrates how easily we readers can go beyond what is written. I myself also need to read reports more carefully and acknowledge I got it wrong.
Making jokes about a child that just murdered their mother is not funny or cool- it shows you have a serious problem yourself. That in my mind is a reason to lock a thread or ban a person from commenting here.
Thanks to the OP for drawing attention to this tragedy and how it may have been WT related.
