Mary barnett trial

Mary Barnett Trial Handout

What Is the Issue? Many social issues are explored, analyzed and evaluated through our judicial system. Imagine that you are have been called for jury duty and subsequently impaneled on a jury that is asked to render a verdict on the following situation. (Note: This fictional case is based on an actual case that was tried in May 1990, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.) On January 23, the defendant, Mary Barnett, left Chicago to visit her fiancé in San Francisco. She left her six-month-old daughter, Alison, unattended in the apartment. Seven days later, Mary Barnett returned home to discover that her baby had died of dehydration. She called the police and initially told them that she had left the child with a baby sitter. She later stated that she knew she had left the child behind but that she had to get to California at all costs. She has been charged with the crime of second degree murder: intentional murder without premeditation. If convicted, she could face up to eighteen years in jail. As a member of the jury, your role is to hear and weigh the evidence, evaluate the credibility of the witnesses, analyze the arguments presented by the prosecution and defense, determine whether the law applies specifically to this situation, and render a verdict on the guilt or innocence of the defendant. To perform these tasks with clarity and fairness, you will have to use a variety of sophisticated thinking and language abilities. As part of the jury selection process, you are asked by the prosecutor and defense attorney whether you will be able to set aside your initial reactions or preconceptions to render an impartial verdict. Identify any ideas or feelings related to this case that might make it difficult for you to view it objectively. Are you a parent? Do you have preconceived views concerning individual responsibility in situations like this? Then evaluate whether you will be able to go beyond your initial reactions to see the situation objectively. What Is the Evidence? The evidence at judicial trials is presented through the testimony of witnesses called by the prosecution and the defense. As a juror, your job is to absorb the information being presented, evaluate its accuracy, and assess the reliability of the individuals giving the testimony. The following are excerpts of testimony from some of the witnesses at the trial. Witnesses for the prosecution are presented first, followed by witnesses for the defense. Caroline Hospers: On the evening of January 30, I was in the hallway when Mary Barnett entered the building. She looked distraught and didn’t have her baby Alison with her. A little while later the police arrived and I discovered that she had left poor little Alison alone to die. I’m not surprised this happened. I always thought Ms. Barnett was a disgrace–I mean, she didn’t have a husband. In fact, she didn’t even have a steady man after that sailor left for California. She had lots of wild parties in her apartment and that baby wasn’t taken care of properly. Her garbage was always filled with empty whiskey and wine bottles. I’m sure she went to California just to party and have a good time, and didn’t give a damn about little Alison. She was thinking only of herself. It’s obvious that she is entirely irresponsible and was not a fit mother. Policeman A: We were called to the defendant’s apartment at 11 p.m. on January 30 by the defendant, Mary Barnett. Upon entering the apartment, we found the defendant holding the deceased child in her arms. She was sobbing and was obviously extremely upset. She stated that she had left the deceased with a baby sitter one week before when she went to California, and had just returned to discover the deceased alone in the apartment. When I asked the defendant to explain in detail what had happened before she left, she stated, “I remember making airline reservations for my trip. Then I tried to find a baby sitter, but I couldn’t. I knew that I was leaving Alison alone and that I wouldn’t be coming back for a while, but I had to get to California at all costs I visited my mother and then left.” An autopsy was later performed that determined that the deceased had died of dehydration several days earlier. There were no other marks or bruises on the deceased. Dr. Parker: I am a professional psychiatrist who has been involved in many judicial hearings on whether a defendant is mentally competent to stand trial and I am familiar with these legal tests. At the request of the district attorney’s office, I interviewed the defendant four times during the last three months. Ms. Barnett is suffering from depression and anxiety, possibly induced by the guilt she feels for what she did. There symptoms can be controlled with proper medication. Based on my interview, I believe that Ms. Barnett is competent to stand trial. She understands the charges against her, the roles of her attorney, the prosecutor, judge and jury, and can participate in her own defense. Further, I believe that she was mentally competent on January 23, when she left her child unattended. In my opinion, she knew what she was doing and what the consequences of her actions would be. She was aware that she was leaving her child unattended and that the child would be in great danger. I think that she feels guilty for the decisions she made, and that this remorse accounts for her current emotional problems. To be effective critical thinkers, we should not simply accept information as it is presented. We need to try to determine the accuracy of the information and evaluate the credibility of the people providing the information. Evaluate the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses by identifying those factors that led you to believe their testimony and those factors that raised questions in your mind about the accuracy of the information presented. You can use these questions to guide your evaluation: *What information is the witness providing? *Is the information relevant to the charges? *Is the witness credible? What biases might influence the witness’s testimony? *To what extent is the testimony accurate? Now let’s review the testimony from the witnesses for the defense. Alice Jones: I have known the defendant, Mary Barnett, for over eight years. She is a very sweet and decent woman, and a wonderful mother. Being a single parent isn’t easy, and Mary has done as good a job as she could. But shortly after Alison’s birth, Mary got depressed. Then her Fiance, Tim Stewart, was transferred to California. He’s a Navy Engine Mechanic. She started drinking to overcome her depression, but that just made things worse. She began to feel trapped in her apartment with little help raising the baby and few contacts with her family and friends. As her depression deepened, she clung more closely to Tim, who as a result became more distant and put off their wedding, which caused her to feel increasingly anxious and desperate. She felt that she had to go to California to get things straightened out, and by the time she reached that point, I think she had lost touch with reality. I honestly don’t think she realized that she was leaving Alison unattended. She loved her so much. Dr. Bloom: Although I have not been involved in judicial hearings of this type, Mary Barnett has been my patient, twice a week for the last four months, beginning two months after she returned from California and was arrested. In my professional opinion, she is mentally ill and not capable of standing trial. Further, she was clearly not aware of what she was doing when she left Alison unattended and should not be held responsible for her action. Ms. Barnett’s problems began after the birth of Alison. She became caught in the grip of the medical condition known as postpartum depression, a syndrome that affects many women after the birth of their children, some more severely than others. Women feel a loss of purpose, a sense of hopelessness, and a deep depression. The extreme pressures of caring for an infant create additional anxiety. When Ms. Barnett’s fiance left for California, she felt completely overwhelmed by her circumstances. She turned to alcohol to raise her spirits, but this just exacerbated her condition. Depressed, desperate, anxious and alcoholic, she lapsed into a serious neurotic state and became obsessed with the idea of reaching her fiance in California. This single hope was the only thing she could focus on, and when she acted on it she was completely unaware that she was putting her daughter in danger. Since the trial has begun, she has suffered two anxiety attacks, the more serious resulting in a near catatonic state necessitating her hospitalization for several days. This woman is emotionally disturbed. She needs professional help, not punishment. Mary Barnett: I don’t remember leaving Alison alone. I would never do that if I realized what I was doing. I don’t remember saying any of those things that they said I said, about knowing I was leaving her. I have tried to put the pieces together through the entire investigation, and I just can’t do it. I was anxious and I was real frightened. I didn’t feel like I was in control and it felt like was getting worse. The world was closing in on me, and I had nowhere to turn. I knew I had to get to Tim, in California, and that he would be able to fix everything. He was always the one I went to, because I trusted him. I must have assumed that someone was taking care of Alison, my sweet baby. When I was in California, I knew something wasn’t right. I just didn’t know what it was. Evaluate the credibility of the defense witnesses by identifying those factors that led you to believe their testimony and those factors that raised questions in your mind about the accuracy of the information being presented. What Are the Arguments? After the various witnesses present their testimony through examination and cross-examination questioning, the prosecution and defense then present their final arguments and summation. The purpose of this phase of the trial is to tie together–or raise doubts about–the evidence that has been presented in order to persuade the jury that the defendant is guilty or innocent. Included here are excerpts from these final arguments. Prosecution Arguments: Child abuse and neglect is a national tragedy. Every day thousands of innocent children are neglected, abused and even killed. The parents responsible for these crimes are rarely brought to justice because their victims are usually not able to speak in their own behalf. In some sense, all of these abusers are emotionally disturbed, because it takes emotionally disturbed people to torture, maim and kill innocent children. But these people are also responsible for their actions and they should be punished accordingly. They don’t have to hurt these children. No one is forcing them to hurt these children. They can choose not to hurt these children. If they have emotional problems, they can choose to seek professional help. Saying you hurt a child because you have “emotional problems” is the worst kind of excuse. The defendant, Mary Barnett, claims that she left her child unattended, to die, because she has “emotional problems,” and that she is not responsible for what she did. This is absurd. Mary Barnett is a self-centered, irresponsible, manipulative, deceitful mother, who abandoned her six-month-old daughter so she could fly to San Francisco to party all week with her fiance. She conscious, she was thinking, she knew exactly what she was doing, and that’s exactly what she told the police when she returned from her little pleasure trip. Now, she claims that she can’t remember leaving little Alison alone to die. How convenient! You have heard the testimony from her neighbor, Caroline Hospers, that she was considerably less than an ideal mother: a chronic drinker who liked to party rather than devoting herself to her child. You have also heard the testimony of Dr. Parker, who stated that Mary Barnett was aware of what she was doing on the fateful day in January and that any emotional disturbance is the result of her feelings of guilt over the terrible things she did, and her fear of being punished for it. Mary Barnett is guilty of murder, pure and simple, and it is imperative that you find her so. We need to let society know that it is no longer open season on our children. Defense Arguments: The district attorney is certainly correct–child abuse is a national tragedy. Mary Barnett, however, is not a child abuser. You have heard the police testify that the hospital found no marks, bruises, or other indications of an abused child. You have heard her friend, Alice Jones, testify that Mary was a kind and loving mother who adored her child. But if Mary Barnett was not a child abuser, then how could she have left her child unattended? Because she had snapped psychologically. The combination of postpartum depression, alcoholism, the pressures of being a single parent, and the loss of her fiance were too much for her to bear. She simply broke down under the weight of all that despair and took off blindly to California, hoping to find a way out of her personal hell. How could she leave Alison unattended? Because she was completely unaware that she was doing so. She had lost touch with reality and had no idea what was happening around her. You have heard the in-depth testimony of Dr. Bloom, who has explained to you the medical condition of postpartum depression and how this led to Mary’s emotional breakdown. You are aware that Mary had two severe anxiety attacks while this trial has taken place, one resulting in her hospitalization. And you have seen her desperate sobbing whenever her daughter Alison has been mentioned in testimony. Alison Barnett is a victim. But she is not a victim of intentional malice from the mother who loves her. She is the victim of Mary’s mental illness, of her emotional breakdown. And in this sense Mary is a victim also. In this enlightened society we should not punish someone who has fallen victim to mental illness. To do so would make us no better than those societies who used to torture and burn mentally ill people whom they thought were possessed by the devil. Mary needs treatment, not blind vengeance. After reviewing the arguments presented by the defense, identify those points you find most persuasive and those you find least persuasive. What Is the Verdict? Following the final arguments and summations, the judge will sometimes give specific instructions to clarify the issues to be considered. In this case the judge reminds the jury that they must focus on the boundaries of the law and determine whether this case falls within these boundaries or outside them. The jury then retires to deliberate the case and render a verdict. For a defendant to be found guilty of second-degree murder, the prosecution must prove that he or she intended to kill someone, made a conscious decision to do so at the moment (without premeditation), and was aware of the consequences of his or her actions. In your discussion with the other jurors, you must determine whether the evidence indicates, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant’s conduct in the case meets those conditions. What does the qualification “beyond a reasonable doubt” mean? A principle like this is always difficult to define in specific terms, but in general the principle means that it would not make good sense for thoughtful men and women to conclude otherwise. Based on your analysis of the evidence and the arguments presented in this case, what is your verdict? Verdict: Guilty _______________ Not Guilty ___________________ http://cops_focus.webs.com/policeentertainment.htm In class and later in a paper you will need to be prepared to explain what evidence helped you reach this verdict and what reasons you had for voting as you did.

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