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I saw a court case where a mom testified against her adult child and said she drank while she was pregnant, resulting in undermining all of the child defendants

I saw a court case where a mom testified against her adult child and said she drank while she was pregnant, resulting in undermining all of the child defendants decision making process resulting in the defendant’s conviction To be honest this felt like one of those “too poor for appeal’s court” things But a ridiculous way of treating a defendant Imagine if we could tell someone had a mental alteration

graemep 1y ago
> I saw a court case where a mom testified against her adult child and said she drank while she was pregnant How could that even be relevant to a criminal case?
- tgv 1y ago
  Because it affects the growth of the fetus, including development of the brain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorde...
  - perihelions 1y ago
    To reemphasize the parent's question, how is that relevant to the prosecution of a criminal trial? "The defendant is mentally ill / has a propensity to commit crimes" isn't admissible, in general. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_evidence#Criminal_trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_evidence#Criminal_tr...
    - bluGill 1y ago
      mentally ill is a plea and changes how the case is handled. if found guilty you go to a very different prison system where real doctors care for your issuse and then releas you when treated. It isn't easy to get this plea - many try thinking it is a fast track out of prison so the courts are onto that and put a lot of effort into checking if you really are. I doubt mom's testimony has much weight in that, though she would still be allowed to testify and that would be in the record maving it apear that it mattered
    - tgv 1y ago
      Isn't this called "diminished responsbility" in the US system? There's apparently also something called "settled insanity." If you want to plead one of those, you have to provide a reason.
  - graemep 1y ago
    Someone having drunk while pregnant is not strong evidence that it had a meaningful impact. You have to drink heavily to even risk it, and to have an impact on a court case why not get medical evidence on whether or not meaningful damage has occurred.
burnt-resistor 1y ago
Lead "Twinkie" defense.

graemep 1y ago

> I saw a court case where a mom testified against her adult child and said she drank while she was pregnant How could that even be relevant to a criminal case?

tgv 1y ago
Because it affects the growth of the fetus, including development of the brain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_alcohol_spectrum_disorde...
- perihelions 1y ago
  To reemphasize the parent's question, how is that relevant to the prosecution of a criminal trial? "The defendant is mentally ill / has a propensity to commit crimes" isn't admissible, in general. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_evidence#Criminal_trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_evidence#Criminal_tr...
  - bluGill 1y ago
    mentally ill is a plea and changes how the case is handled. if found guilty you go to a very different prison system where real doctors care for your issuse and then releas you when treated. It isn't easy to get this plea - many try thinking it is a fast track out of prison so the courts are onto that and put a lot of effort into checking if you really are. I doubt mom's testimony has much weight in that, though she would still be allowed to testify and that would be in the record maving it apear that it mattered
  - tgv 1y ago
    Isn't this called "diminished responsbility" in the US system? There's apparently also something called "settled insanity." If you want to plead one of those, you have to provide a reason.
- graemep 1y ago
  Someone having drunk while pregnant is not strong evidence that it had a meaningful impact. You have to drink heavily to even risk it, and to have an impact on a court case why not get medical evidence on whether or not meaningful damage has occurred.

burnt-resistor 1y ago

Lead "Twinkie" defense.