After smashing the skulls of her three young sons with rocks, Deanna Laney of Tyler, Texas is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to two charges of murder, and one charge for injury to her 15-month-old child.
Her court-appointed attorney, “Buck” Files, is already fighting a losing battle. Laney says God told her the world was going to end and to get her house in order, which included killing her children.
“The only explanation which any of the witnesses can offer for her conduct … is that Deanna Laney was legally insane,” Files said in opening statements at her trial.
“The dilemma she faced is a terrible one for a mother,” Files said. “Does she follow what she believes to be God’s will, or does she turn her back on God?”
Files said he would present witnesses who would corroborate…her belief “that the word of God was infallible.”
What dilemma? If she believed the word of God was infallible, she knew what “Thou shalt not murder” means. And she also certainly knew that she should “test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1) She knew that “many will come in My name, saying ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:5)
If, as Files claims, Laney knew “that the word of God was infallible,” and can present many corroborating witnesses to that fact, then Laney should have had no “dilemma” at all. These warning verses are God’s defense mechanism against following satanic lures. She simply gave in to an evil temptation. Case closed.
