Tuesday, August 28, 2007

That Incident in Sheboygan

I mentioned some days ago a woman who had been arrested when she came home and found a relative molesting her children, and proceeded to stab him. This news report from WTMJ 620 says:
Prosecutors in Sheboygan County have filed a misdemeanor charge against a mother who stabbed a teenager after he was caught sexually assaulting the woman's 8-year-old daughter.
According to a criminal complaint, the mother readily admitted to authorities that she stabbed the 17-year-old. According to the complaint, the mother, her boyfriend, another friend and her nephew were staying at her apartment along with two of her children. At some point, the mother, her boyfriend and other friend left to go to a food mart, leaving the nephew with the children.
When they returned, they found the nephew in the room with the children. He was engaged in a lewd act in front of the girl, who was partially naked. The friend says he became enraged and grabbed the nephew, throwing him to the floor. He began to punch and kick the nephew. At some point, someone got a knife, but it was not used at that point.
The mother apparently later used the knife to stab the 17-year-old nephew. But she didn't stab him until after her daughter was safe.
This makes it sound like the stabbing took place some time after they caught the nephew--purely an act of revenge. If so, I can see why she is being charged. But the somewhat graphic criminal complaint (which has been edited to remove the mother's name), is actually quite a bit more ambiguous:
Simon stated he began to punch and kick Martin, forcing Martin out of the bedroom into the apartment living room where he continued to punch and kick Martin. Simon stated that _______ and Jason then returned to the apartment and attempted to stop Simon. While it is not completely clear from the various statements as to from where and who obtained a knife, at one point Simon stated he was struggling with Martin for a knife, using a toy snow shovel and a portable fan to beat Martin to gain control of the knife, which he did. Simon stated _______ and Jason convinced him to wait outside the apartment for police to arrive, which he did. At some point during Simon’s beating of Martin, ______ was told of what had happened in the bedroom and she apparently called police.

When officers entered the apartment, they observed Martin sitting on the couch bleeding from his left arm and leg, with Martin’s shirt and pants covered in blood. Paramedics were immediately called and when Officer Kehoe asked ______ and Jason why Martin was bleeding, stated, “I stabbed him.” ______ was subsequently fully identified as _____, DOB 7/14/80, the defendant, with Jason identified as Jason ______, DOB 3/26/78. Officers subsequently recovered a steak knife with blood and what appeared to be human flesh on it.
At least from what appears in the criminal complaint, it would take a very liberal jury to convict the mother. I'm not sure that a jury that liberal exists, except if the jury pool consists of ACLU members.

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