On the night of June 23, 1993, Lorena Bobbitt chopped off her husband's penis with a kitchen knife as he lay sleeping in their Manassas, Virginia, home. She then drove off with the severed penis and flung it out her car window. Police performed a diligent search and located it, and it was then surgically reattached by Dr. David E. Berman.
In statements to police, she explained that she had cut off the penis because her husband "raped her" and "wouldn't stop." John contested these accusations by elaborately detailing his allegedly unsuccessful attempts at talking to her the previous night.
Two trials followed this incident. In the first, John faced charges stemming from accusations of assault against Lorena. He was acquitted of this charge in September 1993.
In the second, Lorena was charged with "malicious wounding" of which she was found not guilty in January of 1994[1] on the basis of expert testimony that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of her husband's abuse. According to her defense lawyers, on the night of the attack, Lorena's PTSD manifested itself in a form of temporary insanity causing an irresistible impulse to sexually wound her husband. As a result, she could not be held liable for her actions. After the jury issued a verdict of not guilty, Lorena was ordered to spend 45 days in a psychiatric hospital.
Lorena and John were divorced in 1995, after 6 years of marriage.
No comments:
Post a Comment