I am thinking about this astronaut. The headlines saying now that she had 'mental anguish', and that, her mental anguish is worse than that of male astronauts...
From the news article:
"Police charged Nowak with attempting to murder Shipman based on weapons and other items found with Nowak or in her car: pepper spray, a BB-gun, a new steel mallet, knife and rubber tubing. Nowak's lawyer, Donald Lykkebak, has said she only wanted to talk to Shipman"
An attempted murder charge, is all about intent.... intent to kill somebody.
What do you think? Did she intend to kill her rival? If so, does 'mental anguish' excuse her for this?
2007-02-08 01:16:07 · 12 answers · asked by dontknow772002 3 in News & Events ➔ Current Events
Mental anguish, or distress, is an actionable tort when inflicted intentionally, it is not an excuse for murder or attempted murder. Insanity, however, is.
2007-02-08 01:19:20 · answer #1 · answered by Philip Kiriakis 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some of you need to wake up. This is an astronaut, someone who underwent intensive psychological testing, who was trained to work UNDER PRESSURE. It is what she does for a living. She then had a 900 mile drive to contemplate what she was going to do. It is amazing to think that people are already buying into her preplanned defense. She knew exactly what she was doing. And I agree with an earlier poster, it was obvious from the pepper spray and knife and so on that she was only going to 'talk' and if you believe that I have some swampland in Florida I want to get rid of. She sprayed the woman with the pepper spray, that is sure a good way of starting a conversation.
This is a highly intelligent woman used to stress. The whole thing about mental anguish was a prepared defense in case she got caught. And even if she was suffering from it to a degree, it does not excuse attempted murder.
2007-02-08 02:05:50 · answer #2 · answered by Elizabeth Howard 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am not sure you would want to admit it as mental anguish as in such a case you should be locked into a mental asylum for treatment and be constantly monitored for the rest of your natural - should being the most important word in that last remark.
It all depends if she still knew that what she was doing was wrong, and if she did then why did she go ahead and not seek medical help? If it is because of her mental anguish then she can remedy her anguish by spending some time thinking about it either in hospital or prison.
At the end of the day if you have done wrong you should be made to pay for it by society whether you blame mental issues or state of mind or simply flipping out (same thing) or pure evilness from yourself.
2007-02-08 01:21:26 · answer #3 · answered by gthecelt 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do not believe Nowak had any intention of killing or kidnapping the other woman and I think the DA is overreacting with such heavy charges. I think she was an emotional wreck and felt completely out of control. Her unfortunate method of trying to regain control was to confront and scare the crap out of this "rival" woman.
Mental anguish may explain certain behavior but nothing excuses it. We as adults are responsible and accountable for our choices, voices, and actions. When you choose an action, you also choose the consequences, intended or not.
That said, I think Lisa Nowak needs serious, intense mental healthcare and compassionate rehabilitation, NOT a life sentence in a jail cell.
2007-02-08 01:25:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I feel very sorry for this woman. And for the parents of the baby. This woman had been driven nearly mad with grief over the death of her own daughter. Because of this she is not in the same league as Beverley Allitt or someone else who killed children because of a sick kind of pleasure. This woman was deeply disturbed because of a horrendous ordeal she had been through. As the mother of an 11 month old son myself I can't even begin to imagine how it must be to lose a 16 month old child. I think I would not want to go on living. Which of us can say that losing our own beloved child might not send us over the rails? Therefore I don't see what would be gained by putting this woman in prison. She has suffered more than any human being should have to suffer through the loss of her own child. Her nursing career is destroyed. Putting her in prison will achieve what exactly? If the family of the baby who she injected are "angry" at the sentence they can "comfort" themselves that at least they still have their little girl and she has lost hers and is going through agony as a result. If that is comfort.
2016-05-24 06:24:36 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope.
But people use it all the time to justify their actions.
We have now a society doesn't believe in holding people accountable except for conservatives.
All you have to do is cry victims or smear the victim or invent a new syndrom that justifies their actioins.
I always going to meet someone to talk to them with "pepper spray, a BB-gun, a new steel mallet, knife and rubber tubing" don't we all.
She is nut and should be put away until she gets better given a job where the "stress" is not so hard on her.
2007-02-08 01:27:06 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't think it "excuses" the behavior; however, I think it may explain it, and be a mitigating circumstance. People who are under stress can lose the capacity to reason properly, and may be unable to make appropriate decisions. A person with dimished capacity is generally treated differently under the law than a person whose faculties are intact and fully functioning. I think we will hear a lot more about this in weeks to come; perhaps it will open a positive debate about mental health issues in general, and help people to see that even the most (apparently) successful and happy person can have serious problems.
2007-02-08 01:26:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Man, I was predicting this YESTERDAY before any headlines - look back through my posts.
This is FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE kicking in, whereby women are presumed to not have the dishonesty or criminal gene.
It's the same sort of "mental anguish" that allows women to get away with drowning their kids in the tub, throw them off of bridges and molest children if they're a teacher.
2007-02-08 01:18:58 · answer #8 · answered by Joseph C 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
mental anguish is one of the defenses the lawyers yous to take their Cly of jail.it does not work all time.but is a good deafens.
2007-02-08 01:36:48 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
no its no excuse. we all suffer from some sort of problems. doesnt mean we should go around doing stupid stuff. life is about choices, we make those choices on what we do everyday. people need to be held accountable for what they do.
2007-02-08 01:18:51 · answer #10 · answered by ? 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋