Woman Sentenced To 5 To 15 Years For Castration Killing

MySpace photo of Brigitte Harris

The Queens woman found guilty of suffocating her abusive stepfather and cutting off his penis in 2007 was sentenced yesterday to five to 15 years in prison — the maximum sentence for the charge of second-degree manslaughter. Brigitte Harris, 29, was acquitted of murder charges last month, but found guilty of the lesser manslaughter charge after her lawyers argued she wasn't attempting to kill the victim, Eric Goodridge, but protect her nieces from a "pattern of repeated systemic sexual abuse" perpetrated against her since she was 3 years old.

Harris — who researched the case of Lorena and John Bobbitt before attacking her stepfather with a scalpel — told the judge: "I never intended to kill him, and I'm sorry for his family's loss." According to the Daily News, Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman "chided jurors for giving in to sympathies for Harris in reaching a second-degree manslaughter verdict that was inconsistent with the facts," but Harris' attorney thanked the jurors for keeping his client from facing a sentence of 15 years to life. "They handcuffed the judge from committing an injustice," the lawyer said.

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By Ben Muessig in News on November 7, 2009 10:57 AM

Comments [rss]

jeph

I think she should have been acquitted.

interlard

This happens a lot. You have to ask yourself what kind of protection we provide for abuse victims when they feel they have to turn to actions like this.

Being abused from a very early age changes your whole view on life, sexuality and what is right or wrong. I'm glad the jury felt sympathetic, I'm just sorry the judge couldn't understand.