Lashuan Harris - Mother, Killer and Paranoid Schizophrenic
So I noticed the story of Lashuan Harris back in 2005 and did not have this blog up yet. Now that she is back in the news - briefly - for an update on her case, I feel inclined to comment. This story is horrible, tragic and avoidable.
Lashuan Harris was a mother of three young children who undressed them each and then threw them off a pier into the San Fransico Bay back in October 2005. Last Thursday a judge ruled that she will stand trial on three counts of murder.
Lashuan Harris, 23, told police and a psychiatrist after the October 19 drownings that God told her to sacrifice her children, according to testimony at her three-day preliminary hearing.Judge Teri Jackson determined there was enough evidence for Harris to stand trial in the deaths of Treyshun Harris, 6, Taronta Greeley Jr., 2, and Joshoa Greeley, 16 months.
"It is a tragedy for all concerned, but I am going to follow the law," Jackson said.
Harris has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder. Prosecutors have not said if they will seek the death penalty.
Her lawyer claims Harris is a paranoid schizophrenic who was acting under the belief that God wanted her to kill. (CNN.com)
This story is horrible in that the lives of innocent children have been taken in an act that seems incomprehensible to most of the world. We ask: How could this happen? Why did the family members not take action? Why did she stop taking her medication? I found an interesting article on Pax Nortona - A Blog By Joel Sax that attempts to explain some of this. The author appears to suffer from the multiple diseases himself, including bipolar disorder, and provides a look at Lashuan's case from the point of view of someone who is victim of a disease most people do not understand. While Joel addresses this from his point of view, he does not condone her actions.
I understand that a disease such as paranoid schizophrenia can cause people to do thing like this, and while not the norm this is scary to the general public. My first inclination was to say this woman needs to be prosecuted with possibilty of the death penalty, however, I read the following statement in the above quoted article on CNN and decided to look at this a bit further.
"As hard as it is to understand the tragic act, I ask that we step back and try to wrap ourselves around the illness ... that caused Lashuan to do these acts," defense lawyer Teresa Caffese said in her closing argument.While the disease sounds horrible from what I have read, it can usually be managed with medication. The problem I see is that someone with a disease such as paranoid schizophrenia needs support from their family and friends to ensure they stick with their medication regimen. If the person appears to be different than "normal" when on the medication, it should be up to the family and friends of said person to take the initiative to tell the person they need to see their doctor or even call the doctor for them. In this instance, the family and friends appear to have not supported Lashuan as fully as it appears they may have been able to; however, I cannot criticize their actions, or lack thereof, too much as they probably acted as much as they perceived they could. In my opinion, especially when children are involved or talk of harming anyone comes up and you know a person suffers from a condition such as Lashuan did, you should go above and beyond to ensure everyone's safety. This means contacting doctors or police, not simply requesting partial custody of children who may fall victim. The family appears to have not gone above and beyond, sadly and tragically they have now lost four beloved members of their family - to which I extend my sympathy and condolensces.
As I stated at the beginning of this post, this could have been avoided. As Joel stated in his post:
A little education goes a long ways. Harris might be safely inside a hospital and her children alive if they had not attempted to apply folk wisdom to the very serious condition of a confused schizophrenic.I would agree with this and hope that something is learned by everyone from this case. We as a society continue to be concerned less and less with each other and not try to understand the people around us whom we interact with daily. We need to get closer to one another and watch out for each other. If the family was more informed or friends or authorities more understanding of the disease, perhaps Lashuan would still be getting the help she needs and the three children still alive. What I would love to see is a member or a few members of her family to begin travelling the country to discuss the disease and what people can do to understand it further and help those affected.
As for how to handle the sentencing of this woman, I agree and disagree with a statement made by a family member:
"I think she needs to go to a hospital to get help," said friend Donella Hodges. "It was not Lashuan who threw those kids into the water."Yes, it was still her, just in an altered state of mind. I would agree that she should be in a hospital to get help; however, she should be in a hospital and the boys still alive. The fact is she killer three people - children, who are the most vulnerable and unable to protect themselves against the ills of the world as a whole. If she were committed to a hospital at this point, it would seem possible that she could at some point be released. Her release would be sujecting the world to what is know to be within her capability to do - kill again. While unfortunate that she has fallen victim to a horrible disease, I cannot find it within me to simply agree the best answer would be to commit her for help. Locking her in a hospital for the rest of her life to continually be reminded of her actions seems somewhat insensitive if you are trying to be compassionate. If there were no mental illness involved, I would say that maybe having to dwell on the actions would be deserved. I would have to side with envoking the death penalty in this case. That's my opinion, so please comment with yours.
I will close this with a statement made by Joel in his post, which is probably accurate:
When she recovers her senses, this poor woman will be in Hell.
For more information on paranoid schizophrenia, click on one of the following links I have come across in my reading:
Schizophrenia.com
Medical News Today
If you want another, what I consider a 'Far Out There' view of what happened to Lashuan, click on the following link:
North Carolina Independent Media Center: My comment on this site is that while "mind to skull" technology or mind control techniques may have been - and may still be - tested by various factions of the government or world, I cannot see what the benefit would be to choose someone such as Lashuan Harris as a test victim. I could see testing on people that would result in non-harmful actions, but to kill innocent children for the sake of testing....come on. The fact is, she was mentally ill. To try and suggest such ideas as mind control is simply silly. This may be a credible issue; however, I think it would not apply here. Carolyn Williams Palit asked the following question on the link to this site:
...what does it take for this issue to be a credible issue for some of you people?My response: if you want to make the cause more credible, stop trying to apply it to just about anything just to get your cause voiced. I have just commented much more than deserved for this link, but it is people like this that scare people like me more than people suffering from a disease that can be diagnosed and controlled with medication.
Comments
Thank you for your link and thoughtful commentary. I recently wrote another story about a fellow who decapitated his mother:
http://paxnortona.notfrisco2.com/?p=4158
Once again, it seems that family and health care workers failed to act.
Posted by: Joel Sax | May 31, 2006 04:50 AM
Your post was interesting, Joel. I agree that it appears the systems we have in place sometimes seem to fail those who depend on the system. I would say though that while some people are ignored, overlooked or misdiagnosed by the system, the system does help many of those who depend on it. You will always have people or things that slip through the cracks, if you will, in any system. It is usually those who slip by that we hear about in the news and cause people to say the system is horrible. I am not saying that there are not issues with the systems we have in place to help people with all sorts of issues in the U.S. and world, in particular mental illnesses, but when was the last time a news brief came across that praised the system for saving someone from doing something that saved a life? Just playing a little devil's advocate here. Thanks for your comment:)
Posted by: Lucent | June 1, 2006 01:22 AM