Denial of Pregnacy Syndrome?!?

[Qwikshot]

So it's a syndrome now, anyone think that this sets a terrible precident if it's used as a defense?

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news...er_charge.html

Drexel student arraigned on murder chargeBy Kathy Brady Shea
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A 19-year-old Drexel Hill woman turned herself in to police this morning and was arraigned on first-degree charges in connection with the death of her newborn son, whose body was found in a car trunk in January.
Charges against Mia Sardella, a Drexel University student, include first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.

Sardella appeared with her attorney, Arthur T. Donato Jr., at the Upper Darby public safety building, where she was arraigned in Delaware County District Court. Judge Kelly A. Micozzie-Aguirre ordered her held without bail.

Sardella appeared in court with her parents and grandparents. Dressed in a black T-shirt and black slacks and sandals, she stood silently and drummed her fingers nervously as the judge read the list of 11 charges.

After she was ordered to jail, she turned and looked at her parents with visible alarm.

Later, her attorney said there is no evidence in the case to support a charge of homicide. Donato said he would be able to "to refute any indication of any type of murder."

Sardella is the granddaughter of Albert E. Piscopo, chief executive of the Glenmede Trust Co., an investment firm that manages the assets of the Pew Charitable Trusts and other high-end clients. He did not to speak to reporters at the hearing. Sardella's parents, Stephanie Leone and Daniel Sardella, also did not comment.

The baby's cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation, according to the Delaware County medical examiner, Fredric N. Hellman.

The dead infant was discovered Jan. 22 by Sardella's mother in the trunk of her car.

"The child was born alive, viable and healthy," said Deputy District Attorney Michael Gallantino, "He was prevented from breathing, which caused death."

There has been extensive coverage of and public interest in the case, which Chitwood said stemmed in part from the prominence of Piscopo. He serves on a variety of boards, including those of the Opera Company of Philadelphia and Community College of Philadelphia.

None of Sardella's friends, relatives or associates knew she was pregnant, Chitwood said. The baby's father, an unidentified former boyfriend of Sardella's, told police he asked Sardella about an apparent weight gain during a chance meeting with her in the fall. He said she blamed it on an adverse reaction to a birth-control patch, police said.

In a search of the Drexel Hill home where Sardella lived before attending college, police confiscated an article on the "denial of pregnancy" syndrome, which typically affects young girls who convince themselves they cannot be pregnant.

Yesterday, Donato said, "That appears to be what happened here."

Doris C. Vallone, an associate professor at Widener University who has studied pregnancy denial, said, "Teenagers have magical thinking; they believe, if they don't deal with it, it will go away."

Early on, Chitwood accused defense attorneys of delaying interviews with family members, and last week he expressed concern that his investigators were excluded from a meeting with Hellman and representatives of the District Attorney's Office.

The investigation began after police received a phone call from Donato, who said Leone, found the body, with the umbilical cord still attached, underneath some bloody towels in a tote bag in her car trunk. Police later said that Sardella gave birth to a 5- to 6-pound infant while she was home for the holiday break.

Donato said he called authorities after being contacted by Piscopo, Leone's father. Donato said Piscopo suspected the baby's mother was his granddaughter.

Contact staff writer Kathleen Brady Shea at 610-701-7625 or [email protected].



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[BrianD]

I can't imagine this will actually work. Juries might be dumb, but they aren't that dumb.

[billethius]

I have no doubt that some women - especially young ones - do convince themselves that they cannot be pregnant. Of course, that has nothing to do with murdering your child. I'd imagine once she gave birth she couldn't really deny that she had been pregnant, and even if she could, it's got nothing to do with killing someone.

[rkmsuf]

How is this a defense? Once she saw the baby coming out of her there wasn't much denying that.

Denial of fucking. I want to meet a girl that has this. I would have free reign!

[spleen1015]

This makes me sad. Being someone who has fought a long battle in an effort to have children, this makes me really sad.

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Denial of fucking. I want to meet a girl that has this.

That sounds like most of the girls I met in college.

Fuck request? Denied.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Denial of fucking. I want to meet a girl that has this.

Get married.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Get married.

I thought that married women all contracted blowaphobia?

[Young Drachma]

We're heading down an even stranger road as we move towards the future. Bleh.

[Huckleberry]

As others have said, how is the pregnancy denial a defense?

The charges don't change just because she didn't think she had been pregnant. It's still homicide even if it was someone else's baby.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

This makes me sad. Being someone who has fought a long battle in an effort to have children, this makes me really sad.

Agreed. Still no kids here. What I don't understand with all the available contraceptions that are out there.....ah nevermind. I hope she spends a long, long time in jail.

[billethius]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Agreed. Still no kids here. What I don't understand with all the available contraceptions that are out there.....ah nevermind. I hope she spends a long, long time in jail.

Not to mention the highly effective abstinence-only education! This girl probably skipped that class.

[amdaily]

No prob here. If you can kill a "fetus" months into the development, why not be able to kill the "newborn" months into development; let's says 3 months for example?

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Men have been using this strategy for years... to no avail.

[14ers]

Originally Posted by amdaily

No prob here. If you can kill a "fetus" months into the development, why not be able to kill the "newborn" months into development; let's says 3 months for example?

No heartbeat, No brainwave, No soul.


Just because something is growing does not mean it is alive. The hair on your head will continue to grow for years and years after you have been buried.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by 14ers

No heartbeat, No brainwave, No soul.


Just because something is growing does not mean it is alive. The hair on your head will continue to grow for years and years after you have been buried.

Come on, man. Unless I've been completely missing sarcasm here, you two are way off. I'm pretty vehemently pro-abortion, but once the baby comes out....It's time to let all doubts go. You've had plenty of time to think it over.

I can't help but feel like amdaily and 14ers were being sarcastic..were they? Please tell they were!

[cthomer5000]

Cases like this are so avoidable. I think like 99% of the public is unaware of of the existance of legal child abandonment in this country.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by 14ers

The hair on your head will continue to grow for years and years after you have been buried.

You're kidding, right? Somehow hair magically continues to grow despite lack of blood flow or respiration of any kind?! Heck, if this were true, Hairclub for Men could have huge farms of dead people growing hair for male pattern baldness! OMG, maybe they do! Conspiracy!

Just because an older kid told you this as fact years ago while you both waited for the school bus to arrive doesn't necessarily make it true.

[Qwikshot]

Just an update, this girl is out on bail. She has very well to do parents.