This isn't Englsih related but I wanted to share my experiance I had attending a court case for my Criminal Justice 376 Evidence class.
The paper is on the Murder Trial of Michael Lee who stabbed his mom 22 times.
Matthew Gay
Criminal Justice 321
Extra Credit
October 26, 2011
Evil
I held out for what most consider to be the worst offense known to man. Murder is the ultimate crime that paralyzes our society with intense fear and it is considered to be the most serious. I have been to a number of criminal hearings where matters of theft, violence, and many other disturbing behaviors have been discussed. I have always been curious about how criminal murder trials function. The terrible truth is that the only images and impressions individuals get about murder trials are from movies or television. The answers to my curiosity were answered when I heard about a murder sentencing that would take place on October 26, 2011. The case was about a young man age 25 that stabbed his own mother to death 22 times. I knew what I was getting myself into and what might take place during this hearing but nothing could ever prepare you for the graphic images of murder.
The hearing was held at 9:00 am October 26, 2011 and was honorably governed by Judge Patrick H. Owen. This was a sentencing hearing. The defendant pled “guilty” which resulted to the absence of a trial. The defendant was 25 year old Michael Lee of Meridian/Eagle, Idaho. Michael was arraigned on seven felony charges in connection with the death of Lynn Marie Blake which also happened to be his mother. These charges included rape, murder, aggravated assault, battery with intent of mayhem, murder in the 1st degree, murder in the 2nd degree, and kidnapping. On January 4th, 2011, Michael Lee got into an altercation with his wife of one year. Lee forced her onto the bed by knife point saying he would kill not only her but everybody else in the family if she resisted. He raped his wife while his 4 month old baby was screaming helplessly on the floor in the background. Michael then bound his wife with chains and duct tape and through her into the trunk of his car. The defendant then proceeded with his infant in the backseat and his wife in the trunk to his mother’s house.
The defendant then entered the home of his mother with his child and sat down and had a meal with his mother and her domestic partner. This situation was a highly controversial one at the hearing. It could not be clearly specified if he sat down for dinner with the two women or if he had gotten there while his mother’s partner was out getting dinner. It was later decided that the defendant’s mother’s girlfriend went out to pick up dinner and Michael Lee purposely waited till she got back to execute his evil intentions. Upon the return of the mother’s girlfriend Michael Lee suddenly “snapped” and was consumed by rage. Lee proceeded to butcher his own mother with a small knife he had brought from home. He stabbed his mother 22 times over almost every part of her body. The victim’s arm had a wound where the knife had gone completely through one end of the arm and out the other. The victim’s throat was punctured and the wounds and gashes were very deep. The attack took 20 painful minutes all in which the victim was alive to suffer through it all and was quite awake. As if the above atrocities were not enough Michael also curb stomped the side of his mother’s head in which was clearly seen from the massive denting and bruising on the side of his mother’s face.
The commission of this nightmare was executed within the same room and presence of his 4 month daughter. The mother’s domestic partner tried to intervene and stop Michael from doing any more damage which resulted into the attack on her own life. Lee pounced on her as well and beat her in the face several times and made every attempt to gouge out the domestic partners eyes. The partner was able to get free of Lee’s rage and grab her 4 month old grandchild and run for their lives. During the attack Michael Lee had ripped the phone cables out of the wall however, during the attack he would go over to the phone and “pretend” to call 911. The disturbed Michael stabbed his mom off and on while running around the house causing destruction, attacking his mom’s domestic partner, and fake pretending to call for help. Michael’s 20 year old wife was able to fight her way out of the trunk and get to the neighbors’ house for help. The police arrived at the Lee house to find Michael leaning over his mother “pretending” to give CPR.
Witnesses say that Michael never attempted to even put his mouth to his mother’s lips but was only pressing up and down on her chest. It was speculated that this was an attempt to help her bleed out faster rather than to perform CPR. Once Lee was in the patrol car and the tapes were recording he made several irrelevant comments as well as ones that were equally disturbing. All Michael had to say for himself was “maybe I shouldn’t have watched so many movies” or “Maybe I shouldn’t have played so many violent video games” as well as ranging to “At least I got her to shut the fuck up now”. Pardon my language but it appeared as if Michael Lee had no sense of remorse at all and felt that there was no burden on him for the horror that he unleashed onto his own family.
The act of murder performed by Michael to his own mother was not a spur of the moment kind of a thing. The murder was not a crime of instant passion but a crime of 15 years of rage built up according to Michael Lee. What makes this particular case even more disturbing was the fact that Michael Lee had been planning these attacks for days and months in advanced. While his whole family was enjoying themselves at Christmas, Thanksgiving, or New Year’s underneath Michael was planning to brutally mutilate his poor mother. Several days before the attack there was evidence of receipts from Wal-Mart showing the purchase of duct tape, chains, and underwater goggles to be used as “blindfolds covered with duct tape”. This was something the defendant had planned in advanced and knew what he was doing, how to do it, and why he was doing it. The million dollar question is why Michael Lee did something like this. Why did he especially do this to his own mother? Was this the horrifying work of a monster or the retribution of a physically and sexually abused child?
The hearing started out with testimony from each side. The defense had its arsenal of witnesses as did the prosecutors. An interesting observation I noticed was that both the defense and the prosecutors each had two people. Another interesting fact was that the family of all involved seemed to be split right down the center. It appeared backwards in all aspects. The mother and sister of the victim as well as the ex-husband of the victim testified for the defense desperately trying to get a lesser sentence and one of rehabilitation. The prosecution had many more family members testifying for justice who included the domestic partner of the victim, the daughter of the victim, and the brother of the victim, the wife of the defendant, and numerous more family and friends. I found it interesting that the mother and sister of the victim would be on the side of the defense. It would seem that those two types of family would be all for seeking justice of the loved one who was violently taken from them forever.
What could possibly be a justification or even an excuse for such an atrocity like this? The defendant along with the defense claimed that Michael Lee was the victim of physical and sexual abuse. They claim that Michael was repeatedly molested and beaten by his mom’s ex domestic partner. It was claimed that the domestic partner forced herself to the then eight, nine ten, and eleven years old throughout his childhood. She would try to perform oral sex on the defendant and try to “masturbate him”. There were other times where he would be told to drop his pants and show his penis for humiliation and punishment and was often belittled for not being able to “get it up” to meet the needs of the disturbed domestic partner of his mother. Another interesting fact was that the mother’s domestic partner was claimed to punish Michael for not finishing his food in cruel and unusual ways. Lee claimed that he was forced to drink whole bottles of ketchup barbeque sauce and other condiments for not finishing his meals. Michael and the many that know him know that to this day he is very particular with what he eats and consumes only bland and solid foods with absolutely no sauces or condiments. It was rumored that the defendant’s mother met his stepfather and her ex-husband on an online chatting site. It was also said that the mother of the defendant was involved in the pornography industry and she had taken the defendant to many “erotic festivals” in the woods over the years.
The defendant had claimed to have been emotionally scarred from working in the family business at a young age which was called “Pleasure Boutique”. Lee claimed that he was an outsider to his peers based on his mother’s business and connection to the pornography industry. The parents simply did not want their kid’s hanging around with someone exposed to those conditions. There were also claims that Michael was beaten by his mother by the mere mention to his mother that her domestic partner was abusing him. He tried to tell her and he got beat for it. The ex-domestic partner ended up taking her own life in 2002 and many of the family members on the side of the defense found it believable that the ex-domestic partner could have been capable of such actions.
In order to put up the defense that Michael was the victim of severe neglect they brought in a psychologist to run various tests on the defendant. The only problem with the tests was that they proved only that Michael could have been neglected or abused as a child but there was no way of proving that he actually was abused as a child. The information provided on the physical and sexual abuse of the defendant of the child stated during the course of the trial by the defense was vast. I could go into greater detail of the abuse and the facts however, there is just no way of knowing form sure what happened more than 15 years ago to the defendant. The only methods and psychological tests that were presented by the psychologist only showed what “might” or “could” have happened but there was no way of knowing if what happened actually took place. The judge stated that even if he had proof that the abuse had occurred it would still hardly justify the series of events that Lee had started. The judge even explained how certain Idaho codes compelled him to give nothing but the mandatory sentence.
Michael Lee showed the many red flags of a troubled or disturbed child. Lee had few friends and stayed in his room in front of a computer screen for the majority of his time. During family gatherings he would rarely come out of his room and when he did he was often times aggressive. His sister testified that Michael was the type of person who always had to be mad at somebody for something. She explained how he was selfish and cared little about other people’s problems or their best interests. Some days she stated that Michael would all of a sudden stop being mad at one person but move on to somebody else and be mad at them.
During the past few years leading up to the crime Michael Lee had a number of respectable jobs. Lee worked at the Ada County Jail; the very one he is now an inmate of today, as well as the Ada County Sherriff’s office. Lee also held a job at DirecTV. The common factor of all these jobs was that Lee was fired for each one. Lee not only became involved with a female inmate in the Ada County Jail while on duty but he was also caught lying about it and was fired. Lee lied to the Ada County Sherriff’s department for then reason of his termination at the Ada County Jail which resulted in the termination of that job as well. The reason for Lee’s loss of the DirecTV was sketchy but it was known that he was fired once then reapplied under a false name and was fired again. During all of these job losses he would lie to his family of the real reason’s saying it wasn’t his fault. There was another time where Lee claimed to have a job for several weeks and took his and his wife’s only car out for 8 or more hours. Lee did not actually have a job at all but claimed that he attended one for some time. Dishonesty seemed to define the character of this young man which further diminished his already doomed reputation.
Michael received the maximum sentence for his murder charge. The other serious six charges were dropped in relation to the plea deal he made with prosecutors. Each sentence was not only a fixed sentence but a consecutive sentence as well. The judge did not want to take the risk of having this individual get out and possibly murdering again or going after other family members. The judge clearly saw that Michael Lee has some major mental disorders and psychological problems and decided to sentence the defendant to a medical institution that can help him with his problems instead of sending him straight to prison. The defendants first seven years are to be served at the Ada County Jail for the kidnapping, assault, and rape offenses and after that he will be on to prison to serve out the rest.
This murder case was intense. I almost felt guilty that I was there using their tragedy as a school assignment. To be writing while they were crying and grieving seemed awkward. Since I didn’t attend the arraignment or preliminary hearing I did not see the graphic images until the sentencing. During the closing arguments the prosecution showed a power point slide show of the murder scene, the knives, and the destruction. The scenes were pretty graphic showing blood all over the walls, people’s hands, the floors, and pictures of the damage done to the domestic partners face. They even showed shots of the victim completely nude with the 22 knife wounds all over her body. This evidence is so condemning and so damning that I understand why some courts limit the use of it during jury trials.
The effects of this evidence was powerful and there was no question that this individual was going to prison for a long time. The defendant made no excuse and accepted and understood what he did and even said that he wished he could change what happened. The defense accepted and understood the horrors of this man’s actions and accepted that he was going to prison for most of his life. The defense however only had one request and that was for the chance that the defendant is sent to a rehabilitation institution where he could get some psychological help for his many issues. I felt that justice was served in this case but the truth is that nobody won. A woman lost her life, a young man lost his life/freedom, and a family lost a mother, ex-wife, domestic partner, grandmother, sister, aunt, sister in law, cousin, mother, and a friend. Justice may have been served but the damages of these individuals’ actions will leave a mark on family and friends for the rest of their lives.
There is no doubt that this case was a challenge to the actors who fought and defended in it. In believe the fact that there was no solid evidence of physical or sexual child abuse to the defendant. If there was a history of intense abuse I could only imagine how complex a case would become. Kids that kill their parents who suffer from battered child’s syndrome share similar characteristics to those of battered wives syndrome. When individuals face abuse when is it ok to justifiably or excusably defend yourself from further abuse or loss of life? In this case all I saw was hearsay evidence on the possible abuse of the defendant. The solid evidence of the horrendous crime that was unleashed to another being is what they had and the person responsible for such an unnecessary waste of human life was held accountable.
If the acclaimed abuses did in fact take place to the troubled Michael Lee there is no doubt in my mind how tragic that would be. Children are fragile individuals and a crucial developmental stage. When the people abuse them that are supposed to be the ones protecting them and loving them they have no where else to turn. I can only imagine the embarrassment and humiliation a child could feel in such a terrible situation. It put kids in a helpless place where there seems to be no way out with no hope in sight. It is so hard to prove the actions and intent of some sexual abuse cases and impossible to prove that they happened more than 15 years ago when Michael claimed they occurred. The defense of murder that is performed by a child at a time of ongoing abuse would be excusable in certain situations. What Michael Lee did was inherently evil given the fact that he had 15 years to cry out for help to the loved ones that surrounded him. What he did was cruel and unnecessary, inexcusable, and unjustifiable. With such evidence as this horrendous atrocity is overwhelming compared the lack of evidence of abuse.
