A.A. Alfie
22nd January 2010, 03:44 PM
This article appeared in the paper today (Melbourne's Herald-Sun).
"Boyfriend Squashed to Death
A woman weighing 136kg has pleaded guilty to killing her much smaller boyfriend - by sitting on him.
Police in Cleveland said Mia Landingham and Mikal Middleston-Bey, who had three children together, got into an argument in August.
During the altercation Miss Landingham sat on Middleston-Bey who weighed 54kg.
Landingham was sentenced to three years' probation and 100 hours community service after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter. She was immediately released from jail.
Her lawyer said there was a long history of domestic abuse in the relationship. He asked judge Caroliyn Friedland for leniency and pointed out she had no criminal record.
Landingham said she was sorry for squashing the father of her children."
Without wishing to take too light or provocative an approach to a serious and tragic issue, a couple of things come to mind:
- The history of abuse. This poor bloke was less than half her size. Who was the abuser?
- Children aside (whose ages we don't know), does this seem an appropriate sentence? I mean, if someone in a rage hit another and killed them, would there be the same sentence given for "involuntary manslaughter, or would the charges have been more serious?
- If the roles were reversed, would the female judge have been as lenient? Is this a case of reverse discrimination?
- If the lenient sentence was given due to the mitigation of the "battered wife syndrome" or similar - was there any evidence or record of this? From what I can see this was only asserted by her lawyer.
Again, I know nothing of the case except the regurgitated information on the web and the above article.
A quick look on the internet reveals some blogs and such but I can't find anything credible - the original source appears to be Fox. I could delve a bit more deeply (call me lazy, I don't mind, it's a lazy Saturday morning afterall), but I thought it worthy of a chat anyway.
So, is the story true?
Any comments?
Or more info?
AAA:) :)
"Boyfriend Squashed to Death
A woman weighing 136kg has pleaded guilty to killing her much smaller boyfriend - by sitting on him.
Police in Cleveland said Mia Landingham and Mikal Middleston-Bey, who had three children together, got into an argument in August.
During the altercation Miss Landingham sat on Middleston-Bey who weighed 54kg.
Landingham was sentenced to three years' probation and 100 hours community service after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter. She was immediately released from jail.
Her lawyer said there was a long history of domestic abuse in the relationship. He asked judge Caroliyn Friedland for leniency and pointed out she had no criminal record.
Landingham said she was sorry for squashing the father of her children."
Without wishing to take too light or provocative an approach to a serious and tragic issue, a couple of things come to mind:
- The history of abuse. This poor bloke was less than half her size. Who was the abuser?
- Children aside (whose ages we don't know), does this seem an appropriate sentence? I mean, if someone in a rage hit another and killed them, would there be the same sentence given for "involuntary manslaughter, or would the charges have been more serious?
- If the roles were reversed, would the female judge have been as lenient? Is this a case of reverse discrimination?
- If the lenient sentence was given due to the mitigation of the "battered wife syndrome" or similar - was there any evidence or record of this? From what I can see this was only asserted by her lawyer.
Again, I know nothing of the case except the regurgitated information on the web and the above article.
A quick look on the internet reveals some blogs and such but I can't find anything credible - the original source appears to be Fox. I could delve a bit more deeply (call me lazy, I don't mind, it's a lazy Saturday morning afterall), but I thought it worthy of a chat anyway.
So, is the story true?
Any comments?
Or more info?
AAA:) :)