Teen Lesbian kills mother of three in suicide attempt
 

yeah this happened a couple weeks ago in Atlanta, they're just now figuring out what happened.

Fine example of labelling - how exactly did the fact that the teen is a lesbian contribute to the story?

Personally the title in the story is more apt: it says "lovesick".

because the girl was a teen who was spurned by her female love interest.

i have a feeling that the whole "she has issues that she needs resolved, and that this is a cry for help so she wasn't completely in sound mind and body" is going to surface.

this chick needs the book thrown at her ass.

Neal Boortz, the talk show host, has been ranting about this since it happened.

Yes I got that - but does the fact that she is a lesbian, and was spurned by someone make her anymore prone to acts of stupidity than other lovesick teens who have been spurned by someone?

From the admittedly small story, the fact that she is a lesbian is a relatively minor fact in the overall scheme of things - however if it comes out that because of her sexuality she was suicidal (for what ever reason), then yes the fact that she is a Lesbian then becomes much more important in the story.

She needs to rot in prison for the rest of her life. She destroyed a family. She is a selfish brat who thought it was perfectly OK to kill an innocent woman because she (the brat) was having a hissy fit.

And she wasn't "lovesick" -- she doesn't have any idea what love is. How do you know, at 16, what love is?

I'll bet her parents always gave her whatever she wanted and continually told her how wonderful she is to keep their little darling's "self-esteem" up. No wonder she turned out to be a self-centered child who put "I want I want I want!" ahead of another human life.

The wrong one died. And she was a mother of three. A family ruined. A tragic, stupid loss.

What a selfish, horrible girl. But hey...she's a rich bitch who killed a Mexican who probably has parents who'll hire her the best lawyers so she'll probably get away with it anyway. :rolleyes:

I agree that she should be punished, but the people automatically making a story out of her being wealthy are ridiculous.

She only had an ankle injury...WTF?

I hope that little bitch rots in prison for the rest of her miserable fucking life! :mad:

The parents afforded her private school tuition.

She was driving her parents' Benz.

I think it's safe to say that the Mr. and Mrs. have some money.

My parents paid for all my school, half my friends drive bmw's or range rovers. The large majority are very ethical, generous and responsible people.

I feel horribly bad for the mother who got kill by this stupid girl.

To put it in a harsh way, if she wanted to kill herself, she might as well crash into a tree, because then she won't kill others but herself....

• slitting your wrists
• overdose
• jumping off a building
• self-inflicted gunshot
• carbon monoxide poisoning
• drinking Drano

The list of alternate suicide methods goes on and on. If she wanted to take her own life, she should have put some thought into it so that she did not endanger the safety of others.

That reminds me I heard about a list that came out a long time ago about 100 ways to suicide. And while I never saw the list, I heard it was quite disturbing. And it reminds me this Japanese documentary called the "Suicidal Circle" where you see Japanese people go on message boards, meet with internet members all collectively suicide all together.

But nonetheless...I don't understand why people suicide, especially with such silly things like this. If you have the courage to suicide, then why not have the courage to face it?

Because suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness and cowardice - they don't have the courage to face their problems, and they think that the world they live in revolves around them. (this would be the Catholic in me speaking I guess)

It is very rare that you can label suicide courageous, or even noble - and those examples standout because they break the mold because of their altruistic and/or courageous nature.

This thread makes me want to rent Heathers. "Teenage suicide....don't do it!"

no, she's still stupid. but i felt like pointing out the fact that she was a lesbian.

no kidding.

Geez. That's messed up that she killed some other person who had nothing to do with her or her issues. The very least she could have done was drive her car off a cliff or something if she insisted on doing it in her car.

Have you ever been severely clinically depressed? I agree that it is certainly not a courageous act, but this is a hugely overly simplistic assessment. Often suicide is about trying for years and years to "face their problems" without having the psychological tools to do so, and eventually coming to genuinely believe things cannot get better. Many also believe that they are nothing but a burden on their loved ones (particularly the elderly, who have the highest suicide rates). I know I'm off-topic now, but I had to comment.

I actually agree with RA here, suicide makes me angry, especially for the person that has to find them. This girl, I imagine, probably made a fairly rash decision to commit suicide...she was texting, which leads me to think maybe something set her off. I doubt she's guilty of malice, but stupidity should be enough.

depression
 

Usually when people are committing suicide they are in an irrational state, and therefore considering alternative ways to kill oneself is the last thing on his/her mind. People of all social and religious backgrounds suffer from depression. It doesn’t make what happen excusable. She should still have some consequence for her actions but she also needs professional help.

For any who is more familar with either this case or law in general, could someone elaborate, if possible, on why she is being charged with murder vs. manslaughter?

Burn the bitch. Moving on.....

I'm not in law but this is just my guess, that she "intentionally" wanted to crash into a car. If it was by "accident" then she would have been charged with manslaughter. But she "intentionally" wanted to kill herself by crashing into someone else's car, and because of that intention makes it a murder.

Umm...does it make sense? :confused:

And I think "courage" may be the wrong term I used...but you all know what I meant.

I don't know the statistics offhand, but is it more common for teenagers to commit suicide than adults?

Yes I have been severly depressed, back in the mid-90s following my UN deployment in Yugoslavia - it is but another aspect of PTSD.... and I still suffer from bouts of mild depression as a result of my CFS. That being said I still stick to my statement that suicide is the cowards way out.

She's being charged with felony murder, which depending on state law, allows for a charge of murder when a death incurs during the commission of a felony. The felony here is assault with a motor vehicle, I believe. She intentionally swerved into traffic, or so they're saying.

Thanks! Like I said, I'm not one of the many lawyers or law students here on GC so I was kind of confused on how they arrived at murder. I always thought murder had to involve intent to harm that particular person. Since she didn't intend to kill that woman just herself I was kinda stunned with a murder charge.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

Hopelessness and cowardice are simply not the same. When I was suicidal I was not afraid of my life or my problems. I couldn't be afraid of what I was already experiencing and had been experiencing for years. But I had tried to get help in every avenue possible and I wasn't getting it. Had I gotten help I would have gladly tried anything.

It may sound heartless, but the young woman didn't die, so this is a case of murder -- not suicide.

Attempted suicide perhaps.

"The girl survived; a woman in the other car was killed."


As my sister the trauma surgeon has taken to saying lately, you just can't kill trash.

wow...you have no idea what you're talking about

Really? and how many people do you know that have committed suicide? How many people have you seen commit suicide?

Out of my troop from Yugoslavia, 4 have committed suicide and one is a vegetable after a failed attempt - do I feel for them? Yes I do, and I visit Andrew twice a year at the veteran's Hospital in Ottawa. However that still doesn't change the fact that I consider their suicide an act of cowardice - they gave up because they were too afraid to go on; they didn't have the courage to keep fighting, the courage to help others going through the same thing, the courage to accept the horrors and move on.

Equally, while in Yugoslavia I saw suicidal acts that were incredibly noble and courageous - but on the whole suicide is the act of a coward, and a quiter.

I guess I could see that hopelessness does drive to suicide. I've heard tons of cases back in asia that families without any income are so desperate that they can't even put a meal on the table. So in the end, they will carbon monoxide the whole family so they don't have to suffer. I heard that was the most peaceful way to die. But it also aches me because it happens so often and there's no way they can get money anywhere...

But going back to this case, I can't really see hopelessness in this girl. It's more like revengence in a sense that if she dies, she hopes that the other girl will regret her entire life for not being with her. I may be wrong though...*shrugs*

*pulls up sleeve*

how many others do I know? I'd rather not talk about them, I will let them rest.

so I am weak and a coward? You've only seen the struggle of others, not gone through it yourself. I agree that suicide is pointless (now, I didn't always, obviously) but cowardice? No. Suicide isn't born out of cowardice or fear, usually what feels like a very clear head, and sudden urge to "act now, for good"

I could go on, but I don't feel like it because it's like explaining baseball to someone who has never seen a game. I can tell you all the rules and describe it, but if you've never been there, you just can't know.

Please see my earlier post about depression - with severe depression suicidal thoughts are pretty much par for the course. And yes, even after having experienced suicidal thoughts I still view those who have attempted suicide as weak, cowardly, and selfish ~ in fact I'd say it was dealing with and working throught the severe depression that strengthen this view.

Most people commit suicide because they feel everything is hopeless and they can't go on - they are afraid to face another day... and that to me makes them a coward - no matter how "brave" they were to take a final "for good" act... because even then they are still afraid to face another day, or face up to the consequences of their act.

Again - read my earlier post responding to the question about suffering from depression. Again - I have been there, and I have experienced the creeping and clawing darkness that is depression - I think it takes more courage to face the fears and doubts caused by depression, than it does to eat your gun and effectively hide from them forever.

sorry to jump to conclusions then...the rest of this is a pm now

There is a difference between being afraid of something and not seeing a point to it. I can't be afraid of water if I'm already swimming. They know that they can bear their suffering because they are alreay bearing it. But they don't see any purpose or value in continuing the suffer. "I'm too scared to keep going" and "Why keep going?" are two different thoughts.

I'm sorry, committing suicide is not 'cowardly'. The guts it takes to make that final decision, to press the blade deeper, to step off the chair, to jump from the platform, to purposely aim towards a tree, to put that barrel in your mouth and pull the trigger? That's unbelievable courage right there.

A courage of a different sort, truly. But still, not cowardly in the sense that you condemn it. Yes I've been suicidal, tried it, and known someone who succeeded.

Personally it makes me really sad that someone felt their only way out from their problems was death. How low must you be? How futile and devastating and miserable must your life be that you wake up each day and can see the tears in every breath you take.

This chick? Doing it for attention, obviously. She's old enough to know that all actions have consequences, and she needs the consequences. I believe she'll get manslaughter first degree, if I'm not mistaken, but I probably am.

RACooper, you know that we normally agree, but let me play the devil's advocate for a moment. The jumpers on 9/11. Cowardly or brave?