Posted on 08/16/2006 10:23:56 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES
A woman who was convicted of repeatedly running her car over a Hispanic man she called "road kill" will be sentenced to a state mental hospital after a jury found her insane.
The panel deliberated for four hours Tuesday before returning its verdict in a retrial of the Sept. 1, 2000, death of Jesus Plascencia, 65.
Marie Elise West, 41, of Hermosa Beach was convicted of second-degree murder in November 2004 for running over the restaurant worker outside a Van Nuys bagel shop, but that jury deadlocked on whether she was sane at the time of the crime. The jurors also rejected the prosecution's contention that the crime was motivated by racial hatred.
The latest trial began in July 26 after repeated delays because West was hospitalized multiple times for her mental illness.
During retrial, prosecutors argued that the crime was premeditated and described West as a cold-blooded killer. Witnesses said she made racist remarks before and after driving over Plascencia, then walked into the bagel shop and told an employee that there was some "road kill" in the parking lot.
Defense attorney Angelyn Gates countered in closing arguments that West ran over an innocent man for no apparent reason.
"There is no reasonable, rational explanation for this," Gates said. "The only explanation is insanity."
A judge will determine the length of West's hospital stay at a hearing scheduled for Sept. 7.
West's mother said she was relieved her daughter avoided a prison term.
"Prison would have been like a death sentence. She couldn't have survived that," Geraldine West said.
HER KARMA RAN OVER HIS DOGMA........
I'm always dubious of the insanity defense, but in this case, she really is clearly insane. From the link in #9:
In February of that year, she was taken to the psychiatric department at College Hospital after being charged with assaulting four police officers.Then, in March of 2000, a frustrated Bowman asked the Hermosa Beach police to take his wife into custody because he thought she was a danger to herself.
But her innocent, angelic tone convinced the police to turn their heads and walk the other way.
"They took one look at her and said she was fine," Bowman said.
Two days later, she was picked up by police in Redondo Beach for trespassing and was sent to the Harbor- UCLA psychiatric facilities.
Under the current Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, they could legally hold West for only 72 hours.
But Bowman, knowing that she was not well enough to go back into society, asked for a Reese hearing, where the court determines if an individual can be held longer.
Her Reese hearing diagnosed her as gravely disabled. The doctor’s note said, "She says she is the Messiah and has a camera in her eye and that someone was going to assault her."
After three weeks as an inpatient, she went home with hopes that her medications would suppress any further outbreaks.
But in August she was worse than ever. On the morning of Sept. 1 she ended up at the Western Bagel shop in Van Nuys. Moments later, an innocent stranger was dead, and she was arrested on charges of murder. She had run over Jesus Plascencia with her 1989 Volvo as he walked to his car with a bag full of bagels.
But the person I really feel sorry for is the family that lost a father/grandfather/provider/loved-one who was run over repeatedly by a car. This woman is not the victim, the man she killed is. The man and, by extension, his family. but I'm just a "heartless conservative".
BTW, Iknow it was a car and not an SUV or else every story on this would put "SUV" in bold. Off topic, but relevant to the news coverage in general.
we need to stop this "insanity" stuff
Yet it seems to me that the problem is not with an insanity defense per se. It is the fact that the society's understanding of its proper application is so diluted by pop-culture psychobabble that anyone who kills anyone must be insane. Compound that with the society's ready acceptance that there is no evil, only misunderstanding, and what you have is a situation where most killers are just misunderstood or mentally ill, neither of which merit punishment. Look at Hezbollah!
Sorry for your nightmare.
Meds and follow up care on a consistant basis allows many to lead uneventful lives.
I know quite a few chemically imbalanced people and usually boils down too taking meds and good self health care which keeps things on an even keel or no meds and doing jail time or instutionlized with family needing to break ties for their own safety.
even if they are insane, they still are guilty of murder. IMO
It was premeditated the second, third, fourth etc times she ran the man over.
I think some people are just evil.
The problem is the innocent by reason of insanity defense.
This woman seems clearly insane, as do many others that murder. It seems to me the answer is judge them guilty of murder, and then decide where they should go - to a mental hospital for the duration of their sentence, or to prison.
As for the others on this thread, if you've never known a truly mentally ill person, it's hard to understand. I was actually married to one and it took me a good 5 years to really understand his behavior was out of his control.
She was sane enough to function, but someone who does something like that indicates that she really wasn't sane at the time (in the sense of knowing right from wrong).
Let alone desecrating the afterbirth. (Ducking...)
I'm very comfortable with executing murderers. 'Tis my preference to shoot the rabid wolves among us.
Except for the murder part, this woman's behavior is exactly like my sisters.
Today, at the age of 64, the medicos have been able to stop her from the delusions and bizarre behavior, but at the cost of drug-induced quietude.
I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
Ah yes. The repeated act. That makes perfect sense, but I'm not sure about the initial action. Regardless, Mrs. West committed a criminal act and should be imprisoned how ever she is convicted.
It sounds like she was totally delusional. My husband could walk around, and drive! but would be convinced he was in a concentration camp or such.
He once punched a doctor because he thought he was a manager from Walmart. Egad. Sometimes you have to laugh. I bet the doctor didn't think it was funny, though.
As my husband said to me later, who is this guy from Walmart telling me what to do?
They may well be guilty of taking another life. And, I am certainly not lobbying that they do not deserve punishment. Quite the opposite. I believe they can pose a threat to themselves and society and as such should be removed from it. It is the proper method for that removal that I am wondering about.
After all, we have people arguing that funding to institutions should be cut and people should be reintegrated into society for the good of the society and the individual. Yet, I must've been napping when the case was clearly made that reintroduction to the society served either the individual or society in any meaningful way. It serves the ego of the activists...THAT I get.
"There is no reasonable, rational explanation for this," Gates said. "The only explanation is insanity."
A statement fitting for a defense attorney but not for our society. We execute people for what they DO, not why. Andrea Yates should be put to death for her deliberate murders, yet she escaped. Diabolical deeds now equal--prima facie--"insanity" and, therefore, non responsibility.
It's a destructive fantasy propagated by Satan, who works through angry people to provoke murderous rage. West displayed this, did she not (in her overkill)?
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