Say What!?
Mom Who Killed Baby 8 Years Ago Shouldn't Be Fired From Current Job
Eight years ago, a woman named Dena Schlosser killed her baby daughter during what has been called a religious frenzy. Declared insane by the courts, she was sent to a mental institution in 2006. Since June, she's been working at a Texas Wal-Mart. That is until the public got her fired.
Because nothing sounds safer than having a woman recently released from a court-ordered mental institution than having her swinging in the breeze with no job, right? I have to wonder if the people in Terell, Texas thought any of this through.
It seems someone spotted Dena Schlosser, who now goes by the name Dena Laettner, working the checkout line at their local Wal-Mart. They snapped a picture, and it went viral. And after the hew and cry from the community, the woman lost her job.
I won't exactly fault Wal-Mart on this one ... much. People were telling them they were afraid to enter their store because of fear. The question is whether their fear is valid.
According to the cops, Laettner literally cut her 10-month-old's arms off in 2004, later telling a police dispatcher that God told her to. She was later diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, which is what prompted the insanity defense.
It's an unthinkable horror. I don't excuse or sanction it. I can understand why people were horrified to see her out and about and wouldn't want to associate with her.
And yet, legally, Laettner got off. She was not guilty by reason of insanity. What's more, she actually served her time, as ordered by the court. She had remained in the mental institution from 2006 to 2008, when she was released into an outpatient program and allowed to work. Laettner went back into the hospital in 2010 for more treatment.
But now the courts say Dena Laettner isn't a threat to society. She's got a legal right to be out and about and to work at Wal-Mart or any other place willing to hire her. In fact, if she doesn't work, I'm imagining she ends up needing public assistance, making her a burden on the system. Not to mention she has a lot of time to sit around, thinking ...
Is it so wrong for this woman to work? Hasn't she served her time? When does the punishment end?
Image via walknboston/Flickr
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Shelly
curious1145
Stamatina79
LifeIsForLOLZ
You can kinda understand how the public feels right? I mean knowing that a person with that stain on their mental record is working in a place where you take your kids, would make anybody nervous. OK a job is good to keep them on the straight and narrow, but honestly should have thought about the environment you'd be letting her work in, if it was a place where only adults go maybe there wouldn't be a problem from the public. But with the nature of what was done and now she's working where kids might slip away from their parents and risk being unnatended and make them vulnerable, you can see where the concern comes from. Maybe it's fair, maybe it isn't but it's not a clear cut issue by a long shot.
i.heart.nerds
mellynnf
I find it scary that if you are found not guilty by reason of insanity you are able to pass a background check! She committed a horrible crime and Walmart was not able to see that because it didn't show up on her record. That's messed up!
Floridamom96
Paying your court appointed legal debt is not the same as paying your debt to society. Clearly society feels there is still a debt to be paid. Further, paying a legal debt does not erase the consequences of our actions.
yesmaam
All she has to do is stop taking her meds and she can slip back into a state of psychosis, and then who knows....
brandspanknnew
Umm I understand the chances of having another mental break. I understand that some people would be in fear. But everyone deserves a second chance at least once in their lives if they were not in their right mind when the crime was commited. I say let her keep her job. There is no way that she has that job without them knowing a bit about her being that she was in a program to ready her for it. They usually are in contact with the employers. I am sure she would be supervised carefully and have regular check-ins with her doctors. Would I feel uncomfortable taking my child in there with her working after she completed her treatment? Not really. I would understand that she WAS a danger at one point. People always have an opportunity to change. Would I leave my child alone with a person like that? Of course not.
the4mutts
This woman may have had a very valid psychosis, and I am glad she got treatment. But she needs to be kept away from kids.