Woman charged in NYC subway death ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation

Submitted by Mastodon on Mon, 2012-12-31 14:40

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 31-year-old Bronx woman charged with pushing an immigrant to his death from a New York City subway platform has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Erika Menendez was arraigned Saturday night on a charge of murder as a hate crime, the Associated Press reported. Judge Gia Morris ordered that she be held without bail and be given a mental health exam, it said

Menendez is charged in the death of Sunando Sen, who was crushed by a train in Queens on Thursday night.

Menendez, who was seen muttering to herself before shoving a man onto subway tracks in front of a speeding train, said she did so because, "I hate Hindus and Muslims," prosecutors said on Saturday.'

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... in many cases that the suspect get a mental eval check. What is common though is that the psych returns a report saying the suspect, while possessing this or that kind of problem or holding this or that set of beliefs, nonetheless could tell he (HE) was doing XYZ (the crime) and knew or should have known it was illegal and so can be held for trial. Basically, anything short of utter detachment from reality and the suspect goes to trial.

Unless he's a she. Then "other factors" come into play. Did she just have a baby or is she pregnant? What abt. her own past, was she ever abused in any way? Is she going through a "rough patch" in life? Etc. etc. Then it's not so cut and dried, you see.

The NYT has wasted no time, BTW, in spinning the "mentally disturbed" line:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/nyregion/erika-menendez-suspect-in-fatal-subway-push-had-troubled-past.html

I wonder, had the victim been another woman or a child, would the NYT have written this article like this?

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Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2012-12-31 18:48