She (Karen) was temporarily on meds for depression. I seem to recall reading the meds she was on have no history of increased suicide or violence risk. To me, the whole mental instability argument is just another shallow (and to some of us) insulting ploy.

To me, the issue of deterrent is secondary. The primary issue is that Karen is punished for her act.

Thank you for posting this. It’s hard reading but it SHOULDNT be easy.

I still want to hug Katie.

“I’m going to send a ballistic missile into the heart of autism”.
–Bernie Rimland, Father of a son on the ASD spectrum

That said, I also wonder (and this is *not* meant to be flippant or dismissive, just an honest dilemma) whether returning to the specifics of McCarron’s murder of her daughter is fruitful. I suspect that the fact that she killed Katie — or even *how* she did it — is not going to be at question in the trial: but I do think it’s valid to think about what might be a legitimate, productive solution to this dreadful situation.

Is McCarron mentally unbalanced, or was she at the time? Is she just (as someone implied at some point on this forum) evil? Would putting her to death, or jailing her for life, truly serve as a deterrent to other parents who may be (???) considering similar actions? Or regardless, is it important to have her punished … for the sake of Katie’s memory?

I really would value everyone’s opinion on this. Of course, it’s not up to us to decide — the jury will do that — but I do think it’s at least as valuable to reflect on “what now” (as well as remembering Katie’s life) than to dwell on whether/how (or even *why*) McCarron did what she did.

I would like to say something about Katie. Some newspapers have reported that this was done to end Katie’s pain; let me assure you that “Katie was not in pain”. She was a beautiful, precious and happy little girl. Each day she was showered with love and returned that love with hugs, kisses and laughter. Katie loved music; she would fill in some of the words in children’s songs as my wife would sing along with the CD that would be playing, their own version of “karaoke” . She liked to dance, she loved to do the “hooky poky”. She loved being in among flowers and tall grass. She would say “I like grass”. She enjoyed the zoo and because of all of the drills and flashcards she could identify the animals. Which I thought was pretty amazing for such a young child. She was also the only little child in her non-autistic play group that could identify an octagon. My wife and son had a party for her the day they heard that from the teacher.

Here is the rest.