Emily Snook Diane Shot Her Three Children
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The Importance of Motives and Means in Filicide Sentencing --Emily Snook Diane shot her three children.1 Angela tortured her oldest daughter to death.2 Chris strangled his wife and infant daughter, and then drowned his two older children.3 Amanda forced her two children off of a bridge in the middle of the night.4 Eber beat his two month old daughter until she died.5 Derek smashed his son’s skull in.6 Christopher abused his daughter over a period of three years, finally killing her when she was five.7 Filicide is a tragic, and fortunately rare, crime defined as the killing of a child by his or her parent, either biological, foster, or adoptive.8 Each of the above is a case in Oregon where the biological parent9 was charged with the death of their child. In each of these cases, the men and women were harshly punished for their crimes. This goes against the national filicide 1 Karen McCowan, State Denies Parole to Child Killer Downs: Decision: Responses to Officials are Noted as “Less Than Honest,” THE REGISTER-GUARD, Dec. 12, 2008, at A1. 2 Jack Moran, Death Prompts Changes: A State Report Says Human Services Will Pay Closer Attention to Abuse Reports Involving Older Children, THE REGISTER-GUARD, Apr. 20, 2010, at A1. 3 Elizabeth Engstrom, The Trials of Christian Longo, TRUTV, http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious _murders/family/christian_longo/index.html (last visited Apr. 12, 2011). 4 Maxine Bernstein, Mother Accused of Forcing Children Off Sellwood Bridge Pleads Not Guilty, OREGONLIVE (June 3, 2009, 3:02 PM),http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/mother_accused_of_forcing_chil.html. 5 The Oregonian, Aloha Man Accused of Killing 2-month-old Daughter, OREGONLIVE (May 27, 2009, 4:35 PM), http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2009/05/aloha_man_accused_of_killing_2.html. 6 Karen McCowan, Plea, Sentencing Hearing Set in Fatal Abuse of Baby, THE REGISTER-GUARD, Apr. 1, 2011, at B1. 7 Aimee Green, Gresham Dad Pleads Guilty to Torturing his 5-Year-Old Daughter to Death, OREGONLIVE (Mar. 16, 2011, 4:53 PM), http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2011/03/gresham_dad_pleads_guilty_to_t.html. 8 Chelsea Diem & Jesenia Pizarro, Social Structure and Family Homocides, 25 J. FAM. VIOL. 521, 522 (2010). The term “filicide” does not apply to step-parents, and therefore step-parents will not be evaluated in this Note. 9 While all of the examples used are of biological parents, it is also common for step-parents or partners of the parent to kill the child. See David Finkelhor & Richard Ormrod, Homicides of Children and Youth, United States Dep’t of Justice, Juvenile Justice Bulletin No. NCJ187239 (Oct. 2001), available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/ pdffiles1/ojjdp/187239.pdf (noting that parents are most likely to kill younger children, whereas teenagers and pre- teens are more likely to be killed by acquaintances or other family members). In fact, of the seven Oregon examples, two had accomplices that were spouses or partners. Angela McAnulty was married to Richard McAnulty, who was the victim’s step-father. The Associated Press, Richard McAnulty Gets Prison for the Torture-Murder of Jeanette Maples, His Teen Stepdaughter, OREGONLIVE (Apr. 5, 2011, 9:11 AM), http://www.oregonlive.com/news/ index.ssf /2011/04/richard_mcanulty_gets_prison_f.html. He plead guilty to her murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Id. Christopher Rosillo’s girlfriend also assisted in the murder of his daughter. Green, supra note 7. 1 statistics, which suggest that women generally receive lighter punishments than men.10 The reason for the seeming equality of the sentences in Oregon is likely because of the incredibly violent means men and women used to commit these crimes, and their selfish motives for doing so. In this Note, I will first describe the national filicidal trends regarding pre-trial, trial, and sentencing aspects of the crime. I will also describe the national trends regarding filicide- suicides, and two Oregon examples thereof. Then, I will examine the cases of the Oregon women and men above to see how they compare to the national trends. The Oregon cases chosen are five of the most recent examples of filicide in Oregon (two women and three men). Diane Downs and Christian Longo were then added to the sample, as they are the two most famous perpetrators of filicide in Oregon and are known even outside this state. I. National Trends A. Pre-Trial Parents pose a very real and immediate threat to their children. In 2002, 65% of murder victims under the age of 13 were killed by a family member (grandparent, parent, sibling, aunt, etc).11 In 2004, parents were the perpetrators of 79% of the abuse suffered by children.12 In that same year, one or both parents were responsible for 78.9% of all the child fatalities.13 Children can, and do, suffer an enormous amount of harm at the hands of their parents. However, child murders are quite different from typical homicides. The most common methods of killing were very active and physical, such as beating, shaking, drowning, suffocation, strangulation and 10 See infra Part I.C. 11 Jennifer M. Collins, Lady Madonna, Children at Your Feet: The Criminal Justice System’s Romanticization of the Parent-Child Relationship, 93 IOWA L. REV. 131, 133 (2007). 12 Id. at 164. 13 Id. 2 stabbing.14 In typical homicides, the methods are usually less directly physical, such as a shooting, which does not require actually touching the victim.15 Even within the filicide realm murders can be further categorized, depending on whether the murderer is the mother or the father of the victim. The manner and reasons for the filicide differ greatly depending on whether it is the mother or the father who is the perpetrator. Nationally, mothers who kill their children usually do so out of altruistic reasons.16 This means that they believe what they are doing is truly in the best interests of their children, and they are acting out of love.17 In addition, women usually murder because they feel helpless and are afraid of either failing as a mother or of suffering abuse themselves.18 The mothers also usually use methods which are not directly violent.19 The most common means are drowning, suffocation, and gassing.20 Mothers are almost exclusively the perpetrators of neonaticide, the killing of a child within the first 24 hours of life.21 Aside from the reasons and methods of the murder, maternal filicide perpetrators have some other general commonalities as well. They are usually unemployed,22 with their most recent source of income being the state, a parent, or a spouse.23 These women are also usually 14 Stuart Gordon, Mothers who Kill Their Children, 6 CIRCLES: BUFF. WOMEN’S J. L. & SOC. POL’Y 86, 90 (1998). 15 Id. 16 Id. at 93. 17 Id. at 94. 18 Diem & Pizarro, supra note 8, at 522. 19 Marie E. Mugavin, A Meta-Synthesis of Filicide Classification Systems: Psychological and Psychodynamic Issues in Women Who Kill Their Children, 1 J. FORENSIC NURSING 65, 66 (2005). 20 Id. 21 Marieke Liem & Frans Koenraadt, Filicide: A Comparative Study of Maternal Versus Paternal Child Homicide, 18 CRIM. BEHAV. & MENTAL HEALTH 166, 167--68 (2008). 22 Diem & Pizarro, supra note 8, at 522. 23 Suzanne Léveillée, Jaques Marleau & Myriam Dubé, Filicide: A Comparison by Sex and Presence or Absence of Self-Destructive Behavior, 22 J. FAM. VIOL. 287, 291 (2007). 3 victims of abuse themselves.24 Finally, women who kill their children are far more likely than men to be suffering from a recognized mental illness.25 Fathers, on the other hand, use quite different means to kill their children. Fathers’ motive is usually to punish another person.26 This can be punishment against the child himself, or against the mother of the child.27 Fathers are also far more likely to be perpetrators of murder where the child dies as a result of fatal abuse or neglect.28 Fathers prefer to use more direct and violent means to kill their children, such as striking, squeezing, or stabbing29 and are far more likely to use a weapon to assist with the murder than women.30 They are more likely than the mothers to be employed,31 but are far less likely to have a mental illness diagnosis.32 The fathers are usually older than the mothers, andaere more commonly the perpetrators of filicide of older children.33 Fathers are also far more likely to attempt or commit suicide after the offense,34 but this will be discussed in further detail in Section D below. In summary, filicidal mothers are usually viewed as helpless, fearful and possibly insane. They are usually committing these acts out of love for their children, instead of anger or revenge. Fathers, on the other hand, are usually aggressive murderers. They commit these murders to punish those around them or as a part of systematic abuse and neglect of their children. These generalities play an important role in how the court views the perpetrators once the acts have been committed. 24 Diem & Pizarro, supra note 8, at 522. 25 Liem & Koenraadt, supra note 21, at 168. 26 Léveillée, Marleau & Dubé, supra note 23, at 288. 27 Id. 28 Id. 29 Mugavin, supra note 19, at 66. 30 Liem & Koenraadt, supra note 21, at 169. 31 Léveillée, Marleau & Dubé, supra note 23, at 291. 32 Id. at 288. 33 Liem & Koenraadt, supra note 21, at 168. 34 Id. 4 B. Trial Men’s means and motives for committing filicide seem to mirror what the judicial system has come to expect of them.