Wednesday, March 12, 2008

On second thought ...


It's not good to be delusional, especially when one's future hangs in the balance. Perhaps that's sinking in now for Jessica Rizor, who faces life in prison without parole after her conviction for the November 2004 suffocation death of her newborn daughter at her Washington home. You see, Rizor had the opportunity to take a deal from prosecutors that would have netted her a sentence of five to 30 years. She already has been jailed for three-and-a-half years awaiting trial, so it wouldn't have taken her much longer to get to the minimum end of the sentence. Rizor's attorney, Bob Brady, reportedly counseled her to take the deal while the taking was good, but she refused. So Brady, who is recognized as one of the area's best criminal defense lawyers, was left with the unenviable task of getting a jury to believe his client's story, which was pretty much unbelievable. Rizor claimed she didn't know she was pregnant, even though people were asking her if she was pregnant because of her obvious weight gain, and she apparently lacked the sufficient curiosity to grab one of those home-pregnancy tests on her next trip to the drugstore. She then told police that on the day of the birth, she was stunned - stunned, I tell you - when an 8-pound baby hit the exit ramp. She thought the labor pains were menstrual cramps. Yep, that was her story. Now, I've never had menstrual cramps or a baby, but you women out there might be able to attest to the fact that there's a pretty big difference on the pain scale. And an 8-pound baby doesn't just shoot out like a greased pig on a water slide. Rizor also claimed the baby was dead on arrival, which a medical expert testified was not the case. And even if she believed the baby was not breathing, wouldn't you think she might call 911 to get some medical help for the child? The whole story was bullcrap, and the jury didn't take long to recognize that. It appears their only question was whether to convict Rizor of third-degree murder or first-degree, premeditated murder. They wisely chose the latter. And Rizor, barring a successful appeal, can spend every day of the rest of her life in a prison cell, thinking about her actions and wishing she had taken the deal.

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13 Comments:

Blogger Scott said...

I had an e-mail today from a reader who thought it was ironic that she was given life for the death of her baby.

March 12, 2008 at 3:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Denial and rationalization are powerful forces that all humans indulge in. This is an extreme case, but after a while, one starts to believe the cover story one invents, no matter how implausible. Soon, it becomes truth. And never underestimate how oblivious some people are to what's going on around, and even inside, them.

March 12, 2008 at 5:48 PM  
Blogger Scott said...

That was deep.

March 12, 2008 at 9:01 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

And very true.

March 12, 2008 at 9:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Out of woman comes a man/Spends the rest of his life getting back in again."
-- Peter Gabriel, "Humdrum"

March 13, 2008 at 2:09 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

Was Gabriel talking about sex, or is that just the way my mind works?

March 13, 2008 at 3:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe if she were out on Thanksgiving night stealing a car instead of spending the holiday with her family, she could have ran from police, miscarried jumping over a fence, and sued the state and the cops for 28 million dollars.

Justice is funny like that sometimes.

March 13, 2008 at 6:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh yeah -- sex. Very Freudian.

March 13, 2008 at 8:30 PM  
Blogger PRIguy said...

She claims that she thought labor pains were menstrual cramps. But if she was pregnant, wouldn't her periods have stopped? She didn't find going nine months without a period odd? I guess one really big dose of cramps made up for all those months without them.

Aren't blogs great? We have a topic like this baby's murder and can turn the discussion around to sex. God, how I love the Internet!

March 14, 2008 at 7:34 AM  
Blogger Greg said...

This is a very tragic crime and should be in no way compared to another tragic crime. State police troopers gunned down a 12-year-old unarmed boy and his family was awarded 28 mil. In one case the defendent will spend the rest of her life in jail. In the other case two defendents won't. They'll spend the rest of their lives not paying monitarily or jail wise for their crimes. Why was the previous blogger bitter about a family winning a civil suit? I hope I just didn't understand their post.

March 14, 2008 at 9:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What troubles me about this case is thinking about how there have been many cases in the news about this in the last 10 years or so. And based on the cases, this happens in just about every social class - I am just troubled because in each case the infant was found by accident or by chance. I can't help thinking about all the babies that are not found.

March 14, 2008 at 10:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I find it amazing that she was pregnant as well. From the looks of her, somebody had to be really, really drunk.

March 14, 2008 at 9:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now that's a classy statement.

March 19, 2008 at 3:09 PM  

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