Should feelings of pity reduce the consequences of murder?
Joanne Hill, who murdered her daughter with cerebral palsy, won't be eligible for parole for at least 15 years:
Judge Elgan Edwards told Hill: "There can be no excuse for what you did."The judge said: "You killed your own daughter because you could not cope with her disability. You had other pressures upon you, a disintegrating marriage, and you decided to kill your own daughter by drowning her."
The contrasting case, noted by Wesley J. Smith, is that of Robert Latimer:
However, I can't help but think that Ms. Hill's lawyer chose the wrong defense strategy. Recall Robert Latimer, the Canadian who murdered his daughter Traci because she had cerebral palsy--an act supported by his wife after the fact and applauded widely in Canada. Latimer's defense was he was doing it for Traci, as a compassionate and loving act. He got off with a several years in prison, and the jury didn't even want him to serve that much time.
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