Mercy killing defense claim will be tested
The Wall Street Journal: The lawyers for a mother charged with murdering her 8-year-old son asked a judge to let them proceed with an “altruistic filicide” defense. Such a defense has been used to bolster insanity defenses before but never with a defendant who says she is sane. “I haven’t seen it, and I’ve been interested in this area for over 40 years,” said psychiatry professor Phillip Resnick.