A teenager accused of stabbing her friend and then herself near Scarborough's town library last March was delusional at the time, according to state experts.

The finding likely means the girl, charged with attempted murder, won't be confined to a juvenile correction center or be required to undergo long-term, court-supervised treatment for mental illness.

During a hearing Monday, Judge Peter Goranites ordered the 15-year-old girl to remain under court supervision until at least December, continuing therapy, house arrest and constant supervision by her family.

But Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson said Goranites' decision to suspend the proceedings will likely change five months from now. The judge is expected to find the teenager not criminally responsible by reason of insanity and, because of a gap in Maine Juvenile Code, let her go with no further court-ordered requirements.

"We don't believe this particular situation is effectively addressed in the juvenile code," Anderson said.

The district attorney said that after a judge rules on criminal responsibility, the court no longer has authority over the juvenile. At the same time, a case cannot be suspended indefinitely.

This issue doesn't exist in the adult system. An adult found not guilty by reason of insanity is committed to a mental hospital until the court determines it is safe to return the person to society, said Maura Keaveney, a lawyer representing the teenager.

Neither Anderson nor Keaveney had encountered the gap in the juvenile code until this case.

"When the whole thing is over, there is going to be no punishment and no further proceedings," Keaveney said.

The prospect of the case ending without the teenager being sent to Long Creek Youth Development Center or ordered to go through long-term treatment is upsetting to the victim's mother, Denise Kring. She thinks the judicial system is forgetting her daughter, who must live with the visible scars on her neck.

"I think there should be punishment for the crime. She tried to kill my daughter," Kring said.

The case has been complicated for authorities from the moment police got a 911 call on March 8 from the victim. Officers found the woman, who was 20 years old at the time of the stabbing, with knife wounds to her throat and back. The 15-year-old girl had a self-inflicted abdominal wound. She was later charged with attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault.

The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram has not identified the two individuals because of the nature of the incident and the fact that the girl facing criminal charges is a juvenile.

Police and Keaveney say the incident was part of an apparent suicide pact between the two friends. But the victim, who has Asperger's Syndrome, which makes it hard at times to read social cues and make friends, denies there was a pact.

The victim wrote a first-person account of the incident that was published last April in the student newspaper at Southern Maine Community College, where she is a student. The article said she and the teenager had decided to become "blood sisters." They went to the wooded area near the library to perform a ceremony depicted in the movie "Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood," but things turned violent.

On Monday morning, the two young women sat no more than 10 feet apart in a courtroom. Kring, the victim's mother, said it was their first contact since the incident.

The teenager did not look at her former friend during the short hearing, which included a request by the victim to give the 15-year-old a letter she had written describing the pain the attack caused.

Keaveney did not challenge the additional months of court supervision. She said her client is attending therapy and not a danger at this point.

But the likely resolution is frustrating for Kring and her daughter. They were upset as they left the courtroom, with the mother saying later that the judicial system and the district attorney's office aren't addressing the severity of the crime.

Kring has started to push for changes in state law. She said juveniles who are found not criminally responsible should remain under court supervision and go through treatment, even hospitalization, if needed.

State Sen. Philip Bartlett, D-Gorham, said that Kring has been in touch with him, and he has started to look into how the Maine Legislature can address the issue.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/l...ourt.shtml

I do not understand some parts of this article.  The 15 yr old is going to receive therapy.  The victim is described as 20 yrs old and has Asperger's.  Correct?


If correct, it is one more example that the world is a dangerous place for people with AS.  How terrible for the victim.  Are people blaming her because she is older?

The 15 year old girl stabbed the 20 year old aspie girl.

It doesnt seem that they are blaming her, but her parents are upset that the attacker is being let off lightly.

Yes, and how do we know the attacker won't try again? Maybe not with her friend but with somebody else. Seems to me that there is a need for treatment and supervision in this case.

With Judge Peter Goranites on the case there will surely be decisons made in this case based on how he feels he is being perceived on the outside, because he doesn't have the guts to make a decision on his own.  This judge cares about his career first and foremost (and how his decisions are perceived by others) more than the humans he decides over or for that matter the safety of children.  An absolutely pretentious, career first Judge!

We should start a petition to get him disbarred.

Only problem is that this story is seven years old. I'd be more inclined to do it if it were more recent.

Goranites is very powerful in his old boys club ... he can make decisions all day long that make children less safe and not a sole cares ... and he laughs all the way to the bank with his massive pension that will come when he retires that the state of Maine cannot afford to pay.  This man deserved to be disbarred years ago but has only gotten more powerful ... what does that tell you about this great system of ours?

go to change.org I just put up a petition on him and will start it please support ...

Can you link it?

http://www.change.org/petitions/judge-pe...ren-first#

The person who was stabbed was a 20 year old. Perhaps tyou should add more to the petition to get people to sign.

Another Rotenberg center?



The Florida Institute for Neurological Rehabilitation (FINR) markets itself as a treatment center with country club-like accommodations for brain injured patients from around the country.

But what FINR doesn’t tell potential patients is that Florida’s Department of Children and Families has received 477 allegations of abuse or neglect at the center since 2005. That there are videos that resulted in the prosecution of staffers who abused autistic patients, that there have been multiple wrongful death lawsuits settled, and that Washington, DC, recalled 21 patients from the facility following an investigation into human rights abuses. A congressional investigation even found that staff has unnecessarily prolonged stays at the center just to boost revenues.

Despite all these highly disturbing findings, FINR continues to operate and accept patients.

I didn’t know all of this when my brother Peter Price went to FINR in 2009 to recover from a brain injury. I thought he’d be receiving quality care. Instead, he told me, FINR staff members would hold him down and punch him in the face and groin. The abuse got so bad that Peter severely injured himself -- by swallowing fish hooks and batteries -- because he saw no other way out of the center.

I was so thankful when we moved Peter to a different rehabilitation center where he has been doing very well. But my conscience wouldn’t let me stop thinking about all the other defenseless patients who are still at FINR—and for all the others for whom it is too late.

Many other people have been abused and even died while at FINR -- the center needs to be investigated to prevent this abuse from continuing.

A recent Bloomberg report by investigative journalist David Armstrong reveals FINR’s long history of abuse. Patients are promised country club-like accommodations and then restricted to small cabins. Some former residents say little therapy takes place. And dozens of former patients and family members recall beatings, neglect, and heartbreaking deaths at the hands of violent staffers who were supposed to care for them.

It’s not surprising since the same people running FINR ran a center in the 1990s that was shut down after investigations revealed much of the same allegations.

Please join me in calling for an end to the abuse. Tell the Department of Health and Human services to investigate the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation.  

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the...igate-finr

This post was last modified: 09-15-2012 10:03 PM by Duckfetishgirl.

There should be a recent example of what he's done, preferably from the past few months, or a history of this type of actions taken by him mentioned in the petition. I'm sorry to say, but, as it sits right now, it's unlikely to get any support.

Edit: This comment is directed at Smitty's petition.

This post was last modified: 09-15-2012 10:04 PM by d_olson27.

I have my example that I will put up there ... to be honest the man is powerful and i worry about what could happen to me ... I also have a relative who works in the system along side of him who could be in trouble if I speak up

I dont know what to do

I filed a complaint but he sits on the committee and it got brushed under