Mom convicted of manslaughter. After pleading guilty, Judge fines woman $550 and suspends 4-year sentence. Father say, “[Men] are punished more for hurting a dog than [a woman] killing a child."

starbuxed · 2012-04-10T14:42:20+00:00

I wanted to cry after reading this. To know that a mother can be so irresponsible, so ignorant and not be punished is insane. I realize punishing the mother will, of course, not bring the life of the daughter back, but she completely robbed the father of his child. She took her from him with her neglect. How did she get away with this?! It's insane!

loganizer · 2012-04-10T16:19:38+00:00

This title is a bit misleading. In addition to the $550 fine, she also has to pay $6000 in restitution. Also, the brackets are implying a gendered context that was never in the father's statement.

I'm not trying to downplay the injustice of this, but your title is overly editorialized.

RodKingsley · 2012-04-10T14:08:25+00:00

It's true innit? Vick spent two years in jail for killing a few dogs. I'm thinking half of female murderesses do roughly about the same time. What makes it worse is that some women can kill children, friggin children, with damn near immunity and impunity.

That's unimportant and irrelevant though. I need a femininny to tell me how I'm oh so privileged while I eat these grapes. Can't wait to read the next femininny post about objectification while at the same time, ignore cases like this. Can't wait.

youreonmyscarf · 2012-04-10T23:50:56+00:00

Change the brackets in the quote please. The statement can easily be seen as using a gender neutral "you're" rather than implying any kind of gender specific nature to the charges. I'm 100% behind this subreddit but it hurts the cause to misquote people like this.

YadaYadaYada2 · 2012-04-10T13:44:31+00:00

Relevant

r_nothing_link · 2012-04-10T15:51:37+00:00

Why did you insert those bracketed statements?*

EDIT: More clear on what I meant.

he_cried_out_WTF · 2012-04-10T15:44:35+00:00

While I would agree with the second part of the title, I would have to say it DOES sound like an accident that caused the death of their children. It may have been negligent, but it wasn't malicious.

Vick got jail time because he forcefully pitted dogs against each other. This woman was cleaning the floors when it happened; she wasn't holding their heads under water.

That being said, a $550 fine is a bit low...

SirTrumpalot · 2012-04-10T14:08:11+00:00

Just another example of how the justice system is fucked in every way possible.

Unenjoyed · 2012-04-10T15:40:38+00:00

I think it's important what you think jail is for. Is it for punishment? Is it for keeping the public safe? Is it to reform?

I don't like to see prison used as punishment. If we don't think that anyone is at risk for getting hurt, I would much rather see punishment in the form of volunteer work, doing something for the community. As disgusting as she is, this woman isn't a murderer, she didn't intend to kill her child. That is a lot different that sticking a child's head under the water and watching him drown.

That being said, I don't know the mother of not one, but two children doesn't think that leaving an 11 month old child in the bath alone is dangerous. The article doesn't say, but I would love to know if she still has custody of her son. She should not. I'm guessing the father of the baby isn't the father of the older boy.

I tried to find a similar case in which it was a father but I didn't find anything.

authentic_apocrypha · 2012-04-10T17:27:38+00:00

Wait, wait wait. “The Spates family is in the courtroom today ... they had been consulted about this offer long in advance and have approved the offer.”

"The child’s father, Maxwell Spates, agreed with the plea bargaining agreement."

She was not tried and sentenced; it was a plea bargain which he agreed to.

2012-04-10T17:47:17+00:00

After reading the conditions of the incident, it's not like she acted with malice in this instance.. Massive stupidity, sure. But if doing something stupid were a crime, we'd all be in jail for stupidity in various degrees. Putting this woman in prison for a long time won't serve any purpose. I'm sure there's no punishment as harsh as living the rest of her life knowing that she was responsible for her own child's death.

SabineLavine · 2012-04-11T01:41:16+00:00

I regularly see stories where the mother's boyfriend or husband abuses, neglects, or otherwise harms a child and gets a slap on the wrist. It happens a lot. Not to mention how ridiculous it is to compare an accident (due to negligence) to purposeful animal cruelty.

I know you guys need to make everything about how rough men have it, but this is a stretch, especially considering the numerous attempts in many states to criminalize miscarriage and various other craziness. There's a woman here in Indianapolis who is sitting in jail, pending trial, because her fetus died as a result of her suicide attempt that she barely survived herself. It's a complex story, but because our newly elected prosecutor wants to make a name for himself, she's looking at a lengthy prison sentence.

2012-04-10T19:31:47+00:00

This was the actual quote: "He then mentioned that people convicted of animal abuse can get up to five years prison time. “You’re punished more for hurting a dog than killing a child,” he said."

I dont really get why you added [Men] and [a woman] in the title.

greenRiverThriller · 2012-04-10T21:12:33+00:00

Downvoted because of your editorialized title. TerriChris: PLEASE refrain from adding your r/mensRights slant to your submission please. You do this shit all the time.

GitEmSteveDave · 2012-04-10T16:48:30+00:00

Manslaughter isn't murder. Manslaughter can be the result of a negligent homicide. If you think that a mother being the cause of death for her own child won't bother her for the rest of her life, perhaps we should punish her and her other child even more...

LaughsTwice · 2012-04-10T23:13:06+00:00

Boils my blood.

Miathermopolis · 2012-04-11T01:08:57+00:00

To be fair, he didn't say that "men get more time for hurting an animal than killing a child."

and he didn't say, "she got a lesser sentence because she's a woman."

While I agree with your sentiment, I disagree with the way you squiggled your perspective into this story.

“I think the system is kind of weak for letting someone get away with manslaughter.” He then mentioned that people convicted of animal abuse can get up to five years prison time. “You’re punished more for hurting a dog than killing a child,” he said.

Not everything is about what you think it's about.

moresoup4u · 2012-04-10T17:51:13+00:00

don't stick your dick in crazy.

also, for the Vick comments, the bulk of his sentencing was based more on federal charges due to the gambling and other illicit $$, no? the dogfighting part was ugly, but not in itself why he was in jail for so long.

McPuccio · 2012-04-10T19:25:11+00:00

This entire business is trollbait. Father says:

You’re punished more for hurting a dog than killing a child

NOT:

Men get the shit end of the deal

Accidental death (in this case, proven in court) =! Murder

As has been stated multiple times, the difference between the two is INTENT and MALICE, neither of which are present in the ruling of this court case.

INB4 the copy-pasted comment of

How do you know that she did not intent to kill? Because she said so. Will you defend a man's killing with as much enthusiasm?

Yeah. I wouldn't defend a KILLER, as in your context you're referring to a MURDER, which this is not. There's no intent to kill because the case was presented in court and judged thusly.

bobandgeorge · 2012-04-10T20:47:52+00:00

That's not at all what he said.

Addicted2Skyrim · 2012-04-11T02:57:33+00:00

This reverse sexist behavior is killing our children. Without serious consequences like they have for men, slacker mom's will continue to take their child's safety for granted.

xolusmojo · 2012-04-10T16:38:22+00:00

Anybody else think she looks like a young Molly Ringwald?

2012-04-11T07:06:17+00:00

This makes me so angry. For one, that there are 1,001 ways that she could have handled this situation besides putting her child's life in danger and just hoping she wouldn't die. IF YOU PUT HER IN A BATHTUB WITHOUT SUPERVISION, SHE WILL DIE. Second of all, even if she did want her kid dead because of postpartum depression or something, there are ways to deal with this. Get therapy, let the kids spend more time with their dad so it's less stressful. And for all of you saying she didn't have "intent", or whatever, I repeat, IF YOU PUT A BABY IN A BATHTUB WITHOUT SUPERVISION, CHANCES ARE IT WILL DROWN.

The fact that she could have gotten more jail time for drug dealing or something than causing the death of her kid pisses me off. It was absurdly selfish of her to take that risk, and it turned out badly. Four years won't do anything at all for anyone.

thegreatmisanthrope · 2012-04-10T21:30:42+00:00

[permanently deleted]

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