A Scarborough 15-year-old is expected to plead not criminally responsible by reason of insanity on charges she tried to kill a 20-year-old friend in the woods near the Scarborough Public Library in March. The plea would let her go free, without any restrictions or legal consequences.
Court proceedings Monday in Cumberland County Juvenile Court continued Lyndsey McLaughlin’s case until December, to allow continued supervision, even as McLaughlin’s attorney laid out the defense’s plan.
“She was suffering from psychosis at the time of the incident and she wasn’t able to appreciate the consequences of her conduct,” McLaughlin’s attorney Maura Keaveney said after Monday’s hearing.
McLaughlin, is charged with attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault – both Class A felonies – after she allegedly stabbed 20-year-old Barbara Kring in the back and throat outside of the Scarborough Library in early March. McLaughlin then stabbed herself in the stomach.
Despite the severity of the charges, McLaughlin is being prosecuted as a juvenile in part because of her age and also because she has not been in any trouble before the incident.
District Attorney Stephanie Anderson confirmed that McLaughlin would plead not guilty by reason of insanity, which is consistent with two state psychological evaluations.
“They both said she was insane at the time so we’re sort of stuck with that,” Anderson said.
In light of this fact the court seems willing to accept the plea, which could be done in December. But due to the state’s juvenile crime laws, McLaughlin would be able to walk away from the incident without punishment once the plea was accepted.
“There’s no punishment. It’s not guilty,” Anderson said. “It’s tantamount to being not guilty.”
Adults in similar circumstances would be hospitalized and would remain there until they were able to prove they were no longer a threat.
“The juvenile code doesn’t appear to envision the possibility of a juvenile being psychotically or mentally ill at the time of the offense,” Keaveney said.
The extension of the case, which is referred to as suspension of proceedings, will allow the state to continue to evaluate McLaughlin’s mental health for the next few months, something it has already been doing as part of her previously instituted conditions of release.
According to Keaveney, McLaughlin has been receiving mental health treatments once a week and also is on medication, which also seems to be helping.
“The judge felt he wanted to monitor her for a few months before deciding what to do,” Keaveney said after the hearing.
Also at court on Monday, Judge Peter Goranites made some modifications to McLaughlin’s conditions of release to allow people in addition to her parents to act as supervisors. He also approved that a letter written by Barbara Kring be given to McLaughlin through some intermediaries.
Following the hearing Barbara Kring and her mother Denise Kring were very upset and quickly exited the courthouse. On Tuesday Denise Kring said the family was upset that case will be continued until December. She said she had thought that the delay would be until sometime in the fall.
When the case resumes in December, Denise Kring said it would be conducted in a conference between the attorneys rather than at a hearing. She suspects that McLaughlin’s plea will be taken at that point.
“Why delay until December 5th before setting a disposition date and prolong the time before Barbara can at least confront her attacker in court to ensure she is aware of how badly she has hurt Barbara,” Denise Kring wrote in an e-mail to the Current.
“When the disposition comes we know Lindsey will go free, but at least Barbara can make a victim impact statement and she strongly feels that Lindsey will not get mentally healthy until she becomes aware of the pain her actions have caused.”
Denise Kring also objected to some statements made by Keaveney during the hearing in regards to the letter her daughter wrote. The court allowed the letter to be given to Keaveney who in turn was going to give it to McLaughlin’s therapist. But there was no guarantee the therapist would give the letter to McLaughlin.
Specifically, Keaveney said the letter could be torn up if the therapist so choose, although when questioned by the judge, she said she did not mean it literally. Denise Kring said this statement was cruel and upset her daughter.
Finally Denise Kring was upset by the changes in McLaughlin’s conditions of release. The conditions can be modified and other family members could be included as supervisors if the attorneys agree. Kring was concerned about when this could happen.
“Why even bother to have supervision since this could potentially be enlarged to include any adult,” Denise Kring asked in the e-mail.
Monday’s hearing was the first time that Kring and McLaughlin were together since the incident. Before the hearing Barbara Kring said physically she has healed and is now taking therapeutic horseback riding lessons. However, the effects of the attack are still on her mind, especially given the fact that McLaughlin lives nearby.
“This has taken so much of a toll on me,” Barbara Kring said. “She walks free and I have the emotional baggage from what she did.”
Denise Kring said she is now working with Sen. Phil Bartlett, D-Scarborough, to change the juvenile laws in order to better account for this type of incident.
“Juvenile code drafters neglected to address this possibility in their code and as a result there is no commitment for treatment, no oversight and no accountability,” Denise Kring wrote in a letter posted on the Current’s Web site.
“This girl has been at home with restrictions, but soon she will be free to roam without restriction and without taking responsibility for her actions. If rehabilitation is the goal of the juvenile code then certainly a violent psychotic juvenile is most in need of rehabilitation efforts and changes must occur to protect the community from such an offender.”
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