Karen McCarron’s Lawyer Requests That Her Trial Be Postponed for a 6th Time
November 28, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Dr. Karen McCarron is charged with killing her then 3-year-old daughter, Katherine, on May 13, 2006. In a taped confession made shortly afterwards, McCarron noted that she “wanted a life without autism.” Her trial was to start on December 3rd. On Monday,her lawyer, Marc Wolfe, filed a motion in which he asked Judge Stephen Kouri to move the trial date to January 28 because (according to today’s Peoria Journal-Star), “his medical expert won’t be able to testify until then.” McCarron’s trial has been postponed five times already.
“There is no just reason not to allow this request for a continuance, and to do so would be a grave miscarriage of justice and a denial of (McCarron’s) constitutional rights,” Wolfe wrote.Kouri denied the same request by the defense and prosecution earlier this month, citing what he called stall tactics by the defense and the five previous postponements.
Back in November Judge Kouri also noted that the defense is using “stall tactics”:
“It is apparent that the defendant’s legal team is no closer to presenting her affirmative defense of insanity than they were at the start of or any time during this case.” Kouri wrote. “It is further apparent that any deadline suggested by (McCarron’s) attorney is at best hollow, and at worst an intentional misrepresentation to the court.”
At best and at worst, why the repeated postponenments?
I believe this same reason has been cited for all of the other postponements. I wonder how many expert witnesses have declined to testify in support of an insanity defense.
At the risk of going off on a tangent…everytime I read that she “wanted a life without autism” I can’t help but thinking….why didn’t she just give her daughter to someone who would love her and then take a hike?
Leanne, everytime I hear it I think “but she had one, Katie lived with her DAD”. And that the Peoria support group (most of whom I have met personally) are even bigger turds than I thought.