Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994 TAG: 9402270079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANNE GEARAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MANASSAS LENGTH: Medium
She was found innocent by reason of insanity.
On Monday, a judge will decide whether to accept state psychiatrists' recommendations that Bobbitt be released from the Virginia mental hospital where she's been held since her trial ended Jan. 21.
Public fascination with the Bobbitt case may be eroding, but it remains a hot topic in legal circles. Some prominent scholars say Bobbitt's acquittal is a questionable victory for the "abuse excuse," the argument that abuse at the hands of a parent or spouse explains or absolves a criminal act.
"It's spreading like wildfire. Everybody has an excuse," Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz said in a telephone interview. He has railed against the abuse defense in a newspaper opinion piece and television interviews since the verdict in Bobbitt's malicious wounding trial.
Bobbitt "pulled the wool over the jury's eyes" by claiming that abuse left her unable to take responsibility for her actions, Dershowitz said.
Prince William Circuit Judge Herman Whisenant could free Bobbitt outright, free her conditionally or return her to the Central State Hospital in Petersburg.
In two separate reports to the judge last week, state mental health experts recommended she be freed on the condition that she receive outpatient treatment. Her lawyers said they were optimistic she would go home Monday.
"What kind of message does that send?" said Paul Rothstein, a Georgetown University law professor who followed the Bobbitt case closely. "Juries ought to be concerned with the messages they send to society about personal responsibility."
Society and the legal system are groping for a better definition of victim and victimizer, he said.
"We want to know how much compassion is appropriate. I think some of these verdicts err on the side of compassion and appear to condone criminal behavior," Rothstein said.
He likened the Bobbitt case to the Menendez brothers' case in California. Their defense lawyers also said past abuse prompted the crime. The Menendez jurors could not reach verdicts, and the brothers will be retried for slaying their parents.
Lisa Kemler, one of Bobbitt's lawyers, said domestic abuse is not a license to commit crimes, but in clear cases it acts as a catalyst for criminal behavior.
"We are more and more becoming aware" of the effects of abuse, she said. "A lot of horrible things happen in the home." Until domestic violence is reduced, "you will not see a decrease in this type of defense."
Kemler told jurors in her opening statement, "A life is more valuable than a penis." It was the foundation for the defense contention that years of physical and sexual abuse from John Bobbitt left his wife emotionally devastated and in fear for her safety.
But Mary Grace O'Brien, one of the prosecutors in Lorena Bobbitt's trial, said, "There are people who sustain the same type of abuse as Lorena Bobbitt and the Menendez brothers allege they underwent, and despite that, they don't choose to engage in criminal conduct."
Bobbitt took the stand in his wife's trial to deny ever abusing her. He was acquitted in a separate trial last year of sexually assaulting her on June 23, the morning of the knife attack.
"If you start to believe what she did is justified . . . there will be a backlash. People will say it's gone too far," said Greg Murphy, John Bobbitt's lawyer.
Murphy said battered women have legitimate claims to a defense based on abuse, but he argued that Bobbitt was not battered and does not fit that profile.
"If you abuse the excuse, it will no longer be an excuse that is accepted by society, and that would be tragic for women," he said.
Bobbitt's penis was reattached and doctors say he is recovering well. He cannot yet have sex normally, Murphy said.
Bobbitt is now in Germany, making paid appearances that he says will help cover his medical and legal bills. He will not attend his wife's hearing, his lawyer said.
The Bobbitts are seeking a divorce. John Bobbitt is challenging a paternity suit brought by a New York woman he met during a nearly yearlong separation from his wife.
by CNB