The problem is that being diagnosed with a “mental illness” which could be anything from narcissistic personality to schizophrenia is still not a get out of jail free card. There’s a lot of personality disorders that are basically just covers for ingrained selfishness and actually let them get away with even more than they would if actually held accountable for their actions. We don’t really know what all happened here, but it sounds like the classic case of two horrible parents, but the courts go ahead and place the kids with the crazy woman, who’s bullshit “feelings” and fears and some other tripe eventually messes up the kids, or worse yet they end up dead like that boy. The odds are highly stacked against the girl, too. At 7, she’s been in a horrible situation for far too long and will likely never be anywhere approaching “normal.” I almost think they kids would have been better off with the dad, knowing what we know.
Another site reporting.
I think your forgetting this was in the heat of the moment. When you are committing a crime in the heat
of the moment logic doesn’t register or make any sense. You just act…
Two things:
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Stabby, I never said he should go to jail. My comment is about DECISIONS, not punishment.
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Vic tha kyd/Stabby, I specifically said that I understood why he killed her, what I was saying was that those who think that it was a good decision are morons, and I stand by that statement.
However, I missed the part where he thought that the girl was dead, so I’ll hold that. But again, I stand by my comment above.
Well…fuck. 
America…fuck yea.
This is really depressing. The problem lies in the fact that what he did was completely understandable. Most people probably wouldn’t be able to take such a situation and would probably snap too. But being understandable doesn’t mean it was just. Also, a moment of insanity doesn’t mean you’re insane and not responsible for your actions.
It was a crime of passion, and the man probably knows this very well - hence why he pleads guilty and tried to kill himself. Not matter how disheartening it is, he must be punished for it - though like in this case as a poster above said, a more lenient punishment - otherwise the law means squat.
Damn why the hell did I have to read this shit? Now I’m gonna feel bad for a few days.
“Judge Tina Nadeau said if Smeltzer earns a college degree and completes anger management behind bars, his minimum sentence would be reduced to 10 years.”
wait, what?
Sorry, but you clicked on a thread with the title “Man gets 15-30 years for killing his wife after she killed his son” expecting teh lulz? This ain’t some Inception shit, the story was RIGHT THERE IN THE TITLE.
^_-;
He came home and thought BOTH his son and daughter were already dead, wife was in the process doing herself. He killed the wife, then took the pills because at that point he thought he had nothing left. Daughter recovered later and woke up dad since apparently the drugs he took didn’t do the job. The hell was he supposed to do? Call the cops to arrest his insane wife that just killed both his kids?
What has me so heated is the sentence, and the fact that the bitch put a mitigation clause on it no less. If the wife had killed BOTH the kids and dude had called the cops on her, I’m fucking sure that she would have gotten a much lighter sentence than he did.
Shit, the daughter thinks he killed her little brother.
That’s just too cruel.
He saved her life…
You know what’s really cruel?
The moment the daughter grows up, gets mature enough to understand the whole affair and remembers her attitude at the time.
“Horribly scarred for life” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Yes.
Ask him and he’ll tell you the same thing.
If he could not carry the burden it was wrong to marry and have children in the first place. A lot of couples broke due to this or because one member hid it from the other.
In case with a person of mental problems or disabilities first thing you try is to prevent such things from happening at all.Apparently wife did not take her medication.
No…it doesn’t as a criminal justice major I think I’m entitled to be somewhat of an authority on why but I don’t need to, common sense shows well enough why all types of insanity defenses rarely ever work. Like I said it was more likely a conscious choice out of anger more than anything else, and apparently the judge (rightfully so) felt the same way.
According to the article, she has been living with her mother’s sister since the incident. Any guesses on what influenced her to come to that conlcusion?
Get this man another flashlight.
Whoever is trying to put themselves in the same shoes and saying what he SHOULD have done (captain hindsight) are kidding themselves.
Pretty much this. You can marry someone and everything can be perfect. Your wife can get a mental disability and what will you white knights do then? Do you just abandon your wife? What happens if you come home and it looks like your kids are dead because of your wife? You know, to some parents, a child means everything. Do you really expect this guy to not let his emotions play a part? It’s easy to think logically while sitting comfortably peacefully behind your keyboard. I just pray none of you end up in a similar situation. Knowing real life unfortunately, it is probable that such a tragedy will happen again.
Wtf? She was put in a hospital many times for mental problems and she’s allowed to have custody of her kids?
oh ok then.