Mother/Daughter 5 life sentences for killing 5 family members

[Calypso Jones]

Three are kids. What were they thinking??


Via Breaking 911:

PHILADELHIA — A mother and daughter pleaded guilty but mentally ill to five counts of first-degree murder and one count of criminal conspiracy Monday in the slayings of their relatives, three of them children, last year in their apartment in Morrisville.


Shana Selena Decree, 47, and her 21-year-old daughter Dominique Kiaran Decree will serve five consecutive life sentences as part of the negotiated plea, which was accepted by President Judge Wallace H. Bateman, Jr., who described the case as “horrific and sad at the same time.”

Between Feb. 23 and Feb. 25, 2019, the pair killed Shana Decree’s children, Naa’Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville; as well as Shana Decree’s sister, Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton, New Jersey, and Campbell’s 9-year-old twin daughters Imani and Erika Allen.

[Helena]

It likely could be traced back to lead paint and/or head injuries. There's quite a few studies by I think two prominent doctors about violence and tracing it back. I watched a pretty good TEDtalk about it a few years ago. Can't find it at the moment.

Got me thinking that a lot of stories we put down to plain evil may have some more things going on than the person being awful.

[Calypso Jones]

[texan]

I thought it was always white people that did these crazy type crimes?

[Calypso Jones]

It likely could be traced back to lead paint and/or head injuries. There's quite a few studies by I think two prominent doctors about violence and tracing it back. I watched a pretty good TEDtalk about it a few years ago. Can't find it at the moment.

Got me thinking that a lot of stories we put down to plain evil may have some more things going on than the person being awful.

I don't think this is going to be a valid defense.

[Calypso Jones]

I thought it was always white people that did these crazy type crimes?

That's what they try to tell us. Just like they said Hilliary was leading in 2016 and joe is leading in 2020.

[Helena]

I don't think this is going to be a valid defense.

Well, no. They've already been sentenced. And going forward a defense of this nature is not likely to go anywhere as the brain imaging scans and testing are prohibitively expensive AND everyone who committed a crime would likely go for that sort of defense. It wasn't meant to be a defense, though.
I think society fails itself on all sorts of levels. It's easy to be aghast at grisly crimes;much harder to address what's needed in communities and implementing positive change.

[Lummy]

The paint thing is pretty sketchy. Perhaps most children now over 60 have ingested lead paint in varying quantities. Hard to say. It was certainly available.

Hard to believe anyone would blame their murdering someone on their having eaten a paint chip back in the 50's - 60's.

Hmm ... or wait a minute maybe not.

[Helena]

The paint thing is pretty sketchy. Perhaps most children now over 60 have ingested lead paint in varying quantities. Hard to say. It was certainly available.

Hard to believe anyone would blame their murdering someone on their having eaten a paint chip back in the 50's - 60's.

Hmm ... or wait a minute maybe not.

It's not though. Lots of aging houses are rented out to low income people and they haven't removed the lead paint, rather they have just painted over it. It's still a problem. There is also lead contamination in soil, air and water.

[Calypso Jones]

Well, no. They've already been sentenced. And going forward a defense of this nature is not likely to go anywhere as the brain imaging scans and testing are prohibitively expensive AND everyone who committed a crime would likely go for that sort of defense. It wasn't meant to be a defense, though.
I think society fails itself on all sorts of levels. It's easy to be aghast at grisly crimes;much harder to address what's needed in communities and implementing positive change.

sorta like that 're-imagining public safety' thing. Probably spankings and someone telling either of these two women "NO" when they were little and misbehaving. That might have been helpful. At least it might have been good for the 'public safety' of their victims. And now that i think about it...who says these were their first victims?