ST. PAUL, Minn., 6:38 p.m. EDT August 5, 2003 - A Villanova University professor has been charged with second-degree murder after she allegedly killed her baby while visiting her parents in St. Paul, Minn.
Police said Mina An Ener allegedly slit the throat of her 6-month-old daughter, Raya Donagi, Monday around 9 a.m.
Investigators said Enner was feeding the child and then carried the baby into the bathroom. Moments later she walked out and said she thought she killed the baby, said St. Paul police Sgt. Bruce Wynkoop.
A relative called 911 immediately. As medics tried to assist the baby, St. Paul police took Ener into custody.
"One of them ran out to the car with this bundle, and I didn't know what it was. It was a baby," said a neighbor of Ener's parents.
Investigators said Ener remained emotionless Monday as she admitted to killing the child. Police said Ener was on medication for postpartum depression and went to Minnesota to rest.
According to an affidavit, Raya had Down syndrome. At one point, the child was nourished with a feeding tube and she was reportedly not doing well with regular food and formula. Police said Ener confessed she was trying to give her baby some relief.
"There were no tears," Wynkoop said. "I asked, 'Do you feel sorry you did this?' and it was 'Oh, yes, I do.' "
"We just talked for a couple of minutes. She seemed very nice. She told me she was going out of town for a little while to visit her parents in the Midwest and that she would be back and she'd be around," said Wendy Dilsheimer, Ener's neighbor in Wynnewood, Pa.
Dilsheimer said she met Ener a few months ago as the two mothers pushed their babies in strollers through the neighborhood. Dilsheimer said she noticed something wrong with the child.
"The baby was laying down, so I knew something was wrong with the baby because at the age the baby, was she would have been sitting up and looking around and everything because she was awake when I saw her. But she was lying down and just seemed very lethargic lying there," Dilsheimer remembered.
Neighbors in Wynnewood said Ener and her family moved in one month ago. Ener had tenure at Villanova University as the head of the Center for Islamic Studies. Last summer, she married a mathematics professor at the University of Pennsylvania and gave birth in February.
Ener, who grew up in St. Paul, was a graduate of St. Paul Central High School and went on to St. Paul's Macalester College. After earning her doctoral degree at the University of Michigan, Ener started at Villanova in 1996.
A representative for Villanova said Ener was a well-respected professor and accomplished author and called calling the event a tragedy.
She was a real nice lady. I wanted to take more classes with her, but her specialty was Arab and Islamic studies and I focused on Europe and Russia.
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"Right now we can tell you a report was filed by the family of a 12 year old boy yesterday afternoon alleging Mr. Michael Jackson of criminal activity. A search warrant has been filed and that search is currently taking place. Mr. Jackson has not been charged with any crime. We cannot specifically address the content of the police report as it is confidential information at the present time, however, we can confirm that Mr. Jackson forced the boy to listen to the Howard Stern show and watch the movie Private Parts over and over again."
Back on topic, the report really seems inconclusive. Like she was drugged up and lost her mind.
That's the wrong way to tickle Mary, that's the wrong way to kiss!
Don't you know that, over here lad, they like it best like this!
Hooray, pour les français! Farewell, Angleterre!
We didn't know how to tickle Mary, but we learnt how, over there!
Back on topic, the report really seems inconclusive. Like she was drugged up and lost her mind.
Perhaps. Hopefully, even... But I just sometimes wonder; that people can do such things unhesitatingly. Or perhaps it makes perfect sense; exposure was common in Rome--but this was a sixth month old...
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The Duchess of Zeon wrote:The danger of being subsumed into the postmodern elite is thus.
Postmodern elite...
...
Jesus H Billiards. You must have a major bone to pick with professors!
"Right now we can tell you a report was filed by the family of a 12 year old boy yesterday afternoon alleging Mr. Michael Jackson of criminal activity. A search warrant has been filed and that search is currently taking place. Mr. Jackson has not been charged with any crime. We cannot specifically address the content of the police report as it is confidential information at the present time, however, we can confirm that Mr. Jackson forced the boy to listen to the Howard Stern show and watch the movie Private Parts over and over again."
Back on topic, the report really seems inconclusive. Like she was drugged up and lost her mind.
Perhaps. Hopefully, even... But I just sometimes wonder; that people can do such things unhesitatingly. Or perhaps it makes perfect sense; exposure was common in Rome--but this was a sixth month old...
Wasn't exposure actually pretty common up until the 19th century, though?
Also, if she meant to do it, why would she scream "I think I killed the baby" right after, where as if she were anything near the common definition of sanity she would have surely realized the evidence would focus squarely on her?
That's the wrong way to tickle Mary, that's the wrong way to kiss!
Don't you know that, over here lad, they like it best like this!
Hooray, pour les français! Farewell, Angleterre!
We didn't know how to tickle Mary, but we learnt how, over there!
I think she went nuts, myself. She just doesn't seem to be the type who'd make a cold-blooded calculation to kill her sick baby.
Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves…We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.--Ada Louise Huxtable, "Farewell to Penn Station", New York Times editorial, 30 October 1963 X-Ray Blues
RedImperator wrote:I think she went nuts, myself. She just doesn't seem to be the type who'd make a cold-blooded calculation to kill her sick baby.
I dont think its uncommon for people who kill someone to seem pretty normal to others. People often hide their dark sides. This women should get life, nothing more nothing less.
RedImperator wrote:I think she went nuts, myself. She just doesn't seem to be the type who'd make a cold-blooded calculation to kill her sick baby.
I dont think its uncommon for people who kill someone to seem pretty normal to others. People often hide their dark sides. This women should get life, nothing more nothing less.
Definitely more--if she is not judged to be legally insane, than this is hopefully an executable offense, because murdering a child is one of those sorts of aggravated crimes deserving of execution.
..Well. I see that Minnesota doesn't have a death penalty. That makes me wonder if she planned it that way to get off easier?
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Bob McDob wrote:Also, if she meant to do it, why would she scream "I think I killed the baby" right after, where as if she were anything near the common definition of sanity she would have surely realized the evidence would focus squarely on her?
Bullshit. Where does it say she SCREAMED it? Also, how do you slit a throat without meaning to?
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Bob McDob wrote:Also, if she meant to do it, why would she scream "I think I killed the baby" right after, where as if she were anything near the common definition of sanity she would have surely realized the evidence would focus squarely on her?
Bullshit. Where does it say she SCREAMED it? Also, how do you slit a throat without meaning to?
CNN.com's article stated that she picked up the knife after feeding her baby, laid the child on its back and slit her throat in two places. CNN went on to state that the child had Down's Syndrome, and had complications from it. (NOTE: I read that article approx 4pm EDT, but I can't find it now. Wonder if CNN is having to retract it?)
Still, both articles make me think that the woman was out of her mind, depressed, fearful that she couldn't handle raising a disabled child, and convinced herself that killing the child would free it from pain and free herself from the torment.
Poor woman. I think Insanity is a very real possiblity in this case.
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Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
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LadyTevar wrote:
Poor woman. I think Insanity is a very real possiblity in this case.
how about we just give her some NINE GRAMS?
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LadyTevar wrote:Still, both articles make me think that the woman was out of her mind, depressed, fearful that she couldn't handle raising a disabled child, and convinced herself that killing the child would free it from pain and free herself from the torment.
Poor woman. I think Insanity is a very real possiblity in this case.
Emotional distress is not the same as insanity. If she was fully cognizant of the fact that she was killing the child, then she was not insane for the purposes of a criminal trial. It doesn't matter how distraught or depressed or afraid she was, although that might factor into the sentencing decision.
Of course, I say this while recognizing that the trial-by-jury system means that proper definitions of insanity are out the window, and the decision will be on the basis of emotion and theatrics.
"You have the right to be judged by a jury of twelve of the dumbest fucking people we can find."
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
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Darth Wong wrote:"You have the right to be judged by a jury of twelve of the dumbest fucking people we can find."
Lol, that's the best one yet. FUQ?
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While I agree with Mike that the Jury selection process invariably favours the stupid--and my own solution to this would be to make the process totally random and simply have the Judge vette those who might disobey the law in the case--I think a second factor is the power of the prosecution to run part of the investigation. This gives Prosecuting Attorneys a personal interest in getting a conviction, which IMO stacks the system against the defendant.
I think a third party should lay out the collected physical evidence impartially under the guidance of the judge, and the job of the Prosecution and Defense should be solely to respectively argue for the guilt or innocence of the accused. I also think that larger juries would be advisable to prevent the intimidation of members of juries by majorities; we must accept that sometimes "hung jury" verdicts occur, and are a part of the justice system which is legitimate.
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