Two things that are stipulated to, or should be anyways, is that 1, she killed her children, and 2, she is/was crazy. Now the legal standard for an Insanity Plea is called the McNaughton Rule after a case from England years ago. To reach the McNaughton standard, the defendant must not know what they were doing was wrong or must not be able to appreciate that what they were doing was wrong. Generally, this becomes an Affirmative Defense which means after entering this plea the defense has to show beyond a reasonable doubt (there's that phrase again) that they didn't know or appreciate the wrongfulness of their actions. That is a tough hill to climb which is why it is not a common plea. As pointed out earlier though, in Massachusetts, it is bass ackwards and after entering this plea, the prosecution has to show beyond a reasonable doubt that the person knew what they were doing was wrong. This requires reading the person's mind basically. That is why what they did right afterwards is so important. Did she try to hide it, or deny it or did she go make a ham sandwich and watch Days of our Lives? Because this burden is higher for the prosecution, I think she'll be found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. Then again, there is no doubt that she did it and I think a jury would have a hard time with the first two words of the Plea, "Not Guilty". I can assure you that the jury is going to want to know if they find her Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, will she walk free?
I imagine in Mass. they have a lot higher incidence of Insanity Pleas than the other states.
This is my concern- that she will be basically exonerated on account of her insanity. She will wind up in some cushy mental institution and then in 10 years be released. I do not care that she is insane. This would be a total castration of justice and total failure to protect children.
Worse than that is the possibility, which is real, of her being found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, ordered locked up in a Mental Institution, evaluated for a few days and declared fixed, cured, sane whatever term you like and then the State has no other choice but to set her free to go make more babies.
Even Libertarians would probably agree that in some cases, state ordered sterilization is probably not the worst idea.
