Judge Praises Woman Who Killed Disabled Son
Last December, Cynthia Standifer killed her adopted son, Rasheed Michael Standifer, who had intellectual disabilities. According to the May 22nd Enquirer (Cincinnati), Standifer injected large doses of morphine into her son and then also injected herself with the drug and was found on December 26. Last Wednesday, May 21st, Standifer was given the minimum sentence of three years by a judge who “praised her for adopting a disabled child and caring for him for two decades.” More from the Enquirer:
Standifer, a nurse, poisoned her son - who had the mental capacity of an 8-year-old - because she feared he soon would be institutionalized.
The judge called the situation pitiful.
“It’s just as sad for Mrs. Standifer as for anyone else,” Davis said.
Standifer originally was indicted on a murder charge but pleaded guilty in April to the reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter.
Davis could have sent her to prison for 10 years but chose instead to impose the minimum sentence. The plea let her escape a possible life sentence.
Her son lived in an assisted-living facility and often returned to his Mount Washington home on weekends, but his condition was worsening and officials were contemplating placing him in an institution full-time. Medical issues had cost Standifer her job and her home was being foreclosed on.
Standifer had been charged with murder in the death of her son.
And while she did take care of Rasheed for much of his life, Standifer’s killing him puts a very different spin on things.
Thanks to Inclusion Daily Express for notifying me about this story.
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POSTED IN: Crime
16 opinions for Judge Praises Woman Who Killed Disabled Son
Kassiane
May 27, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Well, there’s a judge who should be debenched if I’ve ever heard one. What the hell is WRONG with people?
Bonnie Sayers
May 27, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I wonder if all these stories of parents killing their children are published some place. Someone needs to study what these parents have that are similar so they can train newly diagnosed families that autism spectrum disorders are NOT the end of the world.
On another note a parent posted asking about getting her other child tested and said her hubby could not handle it and what were the benefits of having kid checked and getting a dx. I went ballistic - she brought the child into this world and she is going to stroke her husband’s ego instead of getting help for her child because the husband could not take another blow like that.
I told her that email put me in a bad mood and I wished I had not read it. She later downplayed it and said he probably has ADHD and has been seen already. Talk about denial. I also asked if husband was abusive to her or kids, never know.
Bonnie Sayers
May 27, 2008 at 4:44 pm
At that story link there are many other stories and I scrolled to see them and there is one about cold shower and the father got 7 years for putting a three year old under the shower for 30 minutes because it soiled a diaper and the kids temp at hospital was below normal. It says the guy could get 12 years. Seems that judge should have heard this case.
VAB
May 27, 2008 at 5:27 pm
It is possible to do good and bad things in one lifetime. Why would a judge not mention that she had done much good in adopting and caring for someone for 20 years. It is, in fact, material to the case.
It probably wasn’t intentional, but your title makes it sound like the judge praised her for killing her son, which is in no way the case.
niksmom
May 27, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Well, yes, I suppose the fact that she did adopt and care for him for so long was worth praising. HOWEVER…to then be so lenient and to assume that it was “out of character” for this woman to do something so awful? Seems to me she was hoping she would be successful in killing both of them so she wouldn’t have to face the music of what was going on in her life. Makes me wonder just how “wonderful” the reality was on a daily basis for the son.
Last I checked, what she did —no matter how desperate she was— was premeditated (unless she just happens to have daily access to morphine in her home??) and that should have been a large factor in her sentencing!
Marla
May 27, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Adopting a child is no different than giving birth in respect to how much you love that child and that you are given that child by God to care for on this Earth. This story is very sad.
I adopted M and yet I don’t think I deserve any extra praise for caring for her. She is my child and that is what parents do. You take care of your child and if that means long term care then you do that too.
This judge just set back rights for all people with disabilities. It sickens me.
Melody
May 27, 2008 at 7:26 pm
When you can murder someone and only get a three-year-sentence… that’s just twisted.
Would the judge have praised her so much for adopting him if he didn’t have a disability? Would he have given her the minimum sentence for INVOLUNTARY manslaughter? Somehow I think it unlikely.
a long-time poster
May 27, 2008 at 7:46 pm
here Bonnie …
http://www.thiswayoflife.com/murder.html
Cliff
May 27, 2008 at 8:08 pm
That was a good link. Thanks.
Cliff
Bonnie Sayers
May 27, 2008 at 8:52 pm
thanks for the link. That is very extensive in research. I have IEP tomorrow and then can explore in more depth and maybe even write about this on my site.
Synesthesia
May 28, 2008 at 10:56 am
Huh?
But… she killed him…
How can she get praise for that?
This world is just too frustrating sometimes. It makes me want to dig a hole and just stay there.
liquid zeolite
May 28, 2008 at 1:38 pm
We shouldn’t judge anyone until we walk a few thousand miles in their footsteps ….or something like that, right?
If anyone here approves of abortion but disapproves of euthanasia, then I believe they are confused. If anyone here has had an abortion or urged someone to have an abortion but feels this woman should go to prison should then, if there is something called karma, go to prison themselves for murder.
A mother is a “life support system” for the fetus. Sometimes mothers of disabled children are life support systems for their children as well. The fetus and the mentally disabled who cannot speak for themselves or defend themselves do deserve to be protected from the “life support” that can at any moment decide ‘this is just too hard, it will be too expensive, it will cut into my leisure time or education” and decide to end a life. To me, a life is a life, and to end a life is to end a life. Interesting to see the outrage over this murder and lack of empathy for the womans situation when murder for convenience is currently the law of the land.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 28, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Being the mother of a disabled child and very much his life support, the last thing I could ever do would be to take his life away.
Synesthesia
May 28, 2008 at 1:46 pm
What does that have to do with this case?
Seriously, it really doesn’t have very much to do with it at all.
Not that I agree with the concept of abortion, but still, what about her poor son?
He’s the one I’m feeling empathy for.
Plus you’re being irratatingly oversimplistic, which I don’t like one bit. Both issues are a bit more complicated, but when there’s a certain ATTITUDE out there in the world about disabled people and how disabilities are so…
like a death sentence, how can a person untangle their mind from that sort of thinking and see the situation for what it is good and bad? Theree’s really something wrong with how society as a whole STILL views people with autism or cerebral palsly (sp) or any sort of variation.
Regan
May 28, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I find it very interesting that the focus is on the mother and her issues. Rasheed Michael, the young man who was euthanized, who loved to play basketball with the neighborhood kids and was, by reports, a beautiful singer, who lost whatever life he was going to have, is objectified. We really know nothing about him, his quality of life from his perspective (v. that of the judge and his mother), and what his wishes might have been in the matter.
Let’s see, grounds “justified” this and were considered mitigating? He had a mentality of a 4-8 year old and that “he was getting worse” (conditions unspecified–not that it matters)? Being institutionalized is not a good scenario, but at least it allows the possibility of some change of situation in the future. Being dead does not. He in essence, received a death sentence for the crime of having a developmental disability.
Synesthesia
May 28, 2008 at 2:13 pm
That’s what seems to happen. This ATTITUDE about people with autism or anything else. It bothers me and depresses me deeply.
Wasn’t there some other alternative besides murder or institutionalization?
Other resources out there?
I really would like to know this… It’s not like he’d have to be sent to say, Judge Rotenberg (Which seriously should be closed down. Why hasn’t it been closed down? It’s a disgrace to my state.) there are bound to be places out there that are compassionate, so why should something so…final be done?
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