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Galina Smirnova, the nursing home murderess

Safiel

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95-year-old charged with murder for beating fellow nursing home resident to death

The 89-year-old victim was bludgeoned to death by a fellow resident at the senior living facility, sources close to the investigation told NBC New York.
www.nbcnewyork.com

Ok, she brutally murdered her 89 year old roommate with portions of a wheelchair. It was brutal.

But charging her with murder.

Really.

95 years old with advanced dementia.

Probably zero chance of getting a conviction. even if they are able to complete the entire legal process for a trial before she dies of natural causes.

For the love of god, just transfer her to a secure mental institution for the remainder of her life and be done with it.

What a ****ing waste of money.

How about a little bit of common sense for a change.
 


It's a matter of precedent.
 
Pretty sure the prosecutor is gonna get paid whether he takes this case or not. Also, criminal law does not work the way you think it does. You can't just lock someone up in a "secure mental institution" because you read an NBC article about it. Without criminal proceedings, at most the facility would kick her out and she'd wind up somewhere else.
 

It is a hell of a lot easier to get a finding of dangerous mental illness requiring involuntary long term commitment than it is to get a murder conviction. And it is trivially simply to get a court order for short term involuntary commitment, such as under the Baker Act in Florida.

There is ZERO chance she is going to be found competent to stand trial, even if she lives long enough to make it to that point.
 
WTF does Florida have to do with it? It says it happened in New York. You sure you know what you're talking about and not just throwing around a hodgepodge of pseudo-legalese?
 

Isn't that part of due process? Charged with murder but found incompetent to stand trial, she would be locked up until she is found competent enough to answer the charges. Which would likely be the rest of her life. Your assessment of best outcome has been fulfilled.
 
My read is that there is no dementia or other cognitive impairment diagnosis sitting in that medical chart (the relevant sentence reads " sources say... may have dementia") and the Prosecutors cannot get any diagnosis because Defense counsel feels obliged to oppose the 'mental health exam.' requested by the DA's office.

Defense counsel opposes it because their client is adamant against getting one. So the DA's office sees no other way to protect the public (other residents) other than pursue prosecution, hoping that someone can persuade this woman to provide the actual evidence for a diminished capacity defense and then her doctors look towards medication options to reduce the dementia behaviors that were probably ignored for too long. It would not surprise me if this woman has been refusing to see a doctor for quite some time.

it sounds like she was the more mobile of the two, and the victim was bludgeoned by her own wheelchair. Trust me, the nursing home wants her out of there yesterday and they got their wish.
 
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Heh.

He writes to a practicing attorney.^
 
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