Frances A. Donahue might raise a mental infirmity defense in charges of abusing her in-law.
By RICK LEE
Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Last Updated: 07/15/2008 07:46:48 AM EDT
Frances Ann Donohue cannot be held accountable for the alleged elder abuse death of her mother-in-law because of her major depression, self-absorption and abuse of "bute," a pain reliever for horses, her attorney said.
Donohue, 61, and her husband, William J. Donohue, 73, both charged with first- and third-degree murder and criminal conspiracy, are scheduled for jury trial beginning Aug. 11 in York County Common Pleas Court.
They are accused of neglecting 87-year-old Bernadette Leiben, William Donohue's mother, to the extent the bed-ridden woman died from multiple infections in May 2004.
The York County District Attorney's Office says the Airville couple murdered Leiben for her estate, which included a share of properties sold in Maryland, her Social Security benefits and the $5,600 in her bank account.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Timothy Barker said the Donohues removed Leiben from a long-term rehabilitation facility in Maryland in March 2002 "against medical advice" and emptied her checking account.
He said they sequestered the elderly woman in a home they bought in Fawn Township. When emergency personnel responded to the residence after Leiben died, they noted the woman had multiple bedsores, infected ulcerations and maggots in two sores on her right arm.
Attorney Thomas L. Kearney III has filed a "notice of possible mental infirmity defense" on behalf of Frances Donohue.
According to Kearney's filing, between Feb. 24, 2004, and May 20, 2004,
"and thereafter," Frances Donohue was suffering from: "a major depressive episode," "narcissistic personality traits" and "medication abuse" and "as such was incapable of forming the criminal intent for first-degree murder."
The Donohues remain in York County Prison without bail.
The Donohues are scheduled for jury selection in the York County Judicial Center Aug. 11.
Abridged
SOURCE: In York----------------------------------------------------
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