All's Well in Texas

I republish the story below without too much comment.

It doesn't need much, except to say that in the UK we have a law of infanticide, which treats the guilty mother with humanity and sympathy.

Would you expect that in the state where Dubya showed he was a tough man by laughing at a woman to be executed?

**************

Berry Receives Death Sentence

Jurors delivered a death sentence to Kenisha Berry Thursday, condemning her to die by lethal injection for the smothering death of her infant.

Berry will be the 1st woman in Jefferson County since 1979 sentenced to death row.

Jurors found Berry guilty Wednesday of capital murder in the death of Baby Hope, her days-old baby found in 1998 in a trash dumpster in Beaumont, his arms and mouth covered in duct tape. She was also charged with child abandonment for disposing of another child by leaving him on the side of Hillebrandt Road last summer.

Prosecutors called Andrew Durham, who found the child Berry left in an ant-filled ditch not far from his home on Hillebrandt during his daily walk last summer. Durham said he first thought the sound he was hearing came from birds, but instead discovered the infant, called Parris by Berry, about 15 feet off the road, crying and covered with fire ants.

While Durham agreed with prosecutors that the area was desolate, he concurred with defense attorney, Doug Barlow, that a church and other homes were also in the vicinity.

Jefferson County sheriff's deputy, Debbie Beavers, who investigated the abandoned child's case, said Berry cried often, but it wasn't in remorse for her baby.

"She was worried about what people would think and what they would say," Beavers said.

Tracy Redeaux, a Child Protective Services caseworker, said Parris was hospitalized for a month after she was found and was treated for low body temperature, insect bites and was given oxygen and a blood transfusion. She also testified that Berry's other three children, now living with Berry's aunt, are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and withdrawal.

She asked why her mother did that to Parris and Baby Hope and why not to them, Redeaux said of Berry's 9-year-old.

Jackie Sherman, Berry's step-mother, said during a break from the proceedings that Berry was a good mother who was always with her children and a hard worker. The whole family, she said, was shocked to learn what happened to Parris, but were doubly surprised about Baby Hope because no one in the family ever knew about him.

Various testimony revealed all 5 of Berry's pregnancies were kept hidden from family and friends and most of her children born weren't revealed to family members until after they were born.

"This is a part of Kenisha I don't know," she said. "Something just snapped."

Both Berry's cousin, Tiffany Thomas, and her aunt, Joyce Johnson, told jurors that Berry was a shy, timid girl growing up who cried if someone raised their voice to her. But both, on cross-examination by lead prosecutor Wendall "Chip" Radford, agreed the family would have taken possession of her babies had they known Berry was having problems.

Defense attorneys put Dr. Oney Fitzpatrick, Lamar's psychology department chair and a specialist in human growth and development, on the stand who said Berry has a very supportive family, but is "socially isolated" by choice and didn't ask for help. Calling Berry clinically depressed, he found no evidence of abuse, drug use or insanity. He did say, however, that most of their conversations were centered around Berry's 3 children.

"I really think she felt a lot of comfort in dealing with her children," Fitzpatrick said.

Dr. Edward Gripon, a Beaumont psychiatrist who treated Berry upon her arrival at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility and also conferred with her for her defense, said Berry was "quite clinically depressed," and in his opinion believed she suffered with depression for many months before her incarceration. Gripon also said he felt Berry was an "extremely low risk" of being a continued danger to society, especially since if not given the death penalty, she would be in prison for at least 40 years.

With an very low likelihood Berry would have another baby while incarcerated, Gripon said there was no victim pool for her specific crime.

Jurors deliberated four hours, delivering their sentence at 7:45 p.m. in Criminal District Judge Charles Carver's courtroom, whose facility is equipped with a metal detector and a floor-to-ceiling heavy glass wall situated between the defendent and spectators for safety purposes. Judge Layne Walker presided.

Berry will remain at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility where she will stay until her execution date is set and she is moved to death row in Huntsville. All death sentences are automatically appealed.

(source: The Orange Leader)