Insane?!?!?

Insanity at its finest

DALLAS -- A Dallas woman accused of throwing her two children from a freeway overpass and then jumping off the 20-foot-high span has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

A judge in Dallas ruled Thursday in the trial of Khandi Busby, who was charged with attempted murder and injury to a child. The judge then ordered her to spend roughly 30 days in a state mental institution, MyFoxDFW.com reports.

Investigators say the boys were ages 6 and 8 when they were injured after being thrown from the highway overpass on March 12, 2008. They were treated and placed in foster care, where they remain.

Defense attorney David Pire says Busby felt God had told her to throw her sons off the bridge to protect them from Satan.

Relatives say Busby is bipolar and had stopped taking her medication.

30 days??? 30 DAYS????? So, a woman with bi-polar disorder who chose to stop taking her meds can throw her two children off a bridge, and be sentenced to approximately 30 DAYS IN A STATE MENTAL INSTITUTION????? Is this for real???? And what happens after she's properly medicated and gets out...does she get her kids back? And one more question - what happens if she stops taking her meds again? Will she succeed in killing them this time?

Now, I hear a lot of chatter about not discriminating against people with mental illness, and I tend to agree with that. Most people with mental illness, when properly treated, can live a very productive life. HOWEVER, you can't have it both ways. Those who take their meds do not want to be discriminated against, but if you stop taking those same meds you can literally get away with (attempted) murder by reason of insanity??

I think this ruling does a disservice to those who live with mental illness every day. This woman was not criminally insane. She was criminally irresponsible.