October 26, 2010 2:16 PM
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Will Jennifer Mee Have "Hiccup Girl" Defense?
A woman once known for a medical oddity is now in hot water with the law.
Jennifer Mee -- once known as the "hiccup girl" for her prolonged battle in 2007 with a case of the hiccups -- was arrested over the weekend.
CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reported Mee is in jail, accused of murder in the case of a robbery gone horribly wrong.
Mee gained fame and national attention as a 15 year-old with a five-week case of the hiccups. Now 19, she's gaining infamy for her alleged part in a murder in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Over the weekend, Mee and accomplices Laron Raiford and Lamont Newton were charged with first-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Walmart employee Shannon Griffin. According to police, Mee met Griffin online, and lured him to a vacant house to be robbed.
"Hiccup Girl" Jennifer Mee Charged with Murder
"Hiccup Girl" Found After Running Away
PICTURES: Jennifer Mee
Police say that, during that robbery, Griffin struggled and was eventually shot.
Police say Mee was not the gunman.
CBS News Legal Analyst Lisa Bloom says, "If you go to commit a felony, a serious felony, and a murder results, you're responsible for that murder, so she's in a heap of legal trouble."
On "The Early Show" CBS News Legal Analyst Jack Ford agreed, saying, "Even if she didn't know, if she thought she was only luring him in to be robbed, and said, 'I had no idea that a gun was going to be involved here." there's still what you call felony murder charge in Florida, and in most jurisdictions. What that says is, if you willingly participate in a felony, here a robbery, even if you had no idea that the other people involved were carrying guns or had plans to hurt somebody, you are still just as responsible as the person who pulled the trigger."
Mee's mother recently spoke to a local radio show and defended her daughter, saying, "I've said for a while now that her case of the hiccups wasn't a case of the hiccups, it was a curse of the hiccups. ... She's very naive. I just think she was getting herself into stuff where she didn't really realize what she was doing."
But Mee's MySpace page shows anything but innocence, Glor said. She calls herself a "female version of a hustla" and writes: "ont let the age fool you. The struggles ive been through has made me grown up so much."
The police press release announcing her arrest details the troubles she's experienced since her famous case of the hiccups. They include running away from home and several instances of domestic violence involving a boyfriend.
So how could she defend herself? Could her defense be built on her former hiccups bout?
Ford said, "You have to look at what sort of emotional damage she might have suffered. It was a bizarre episode. We all know that. But the question becomes, is it enough to give rise to some sort of legal defense?"
He explained, "First thing you look at is an insanity defense, for instance. Insanity, basically, you have to prove that, because of what your underlying mental condition is, you either didn't know what you were doing, you didn't know you had a gun in your hand, you thought it was a banana. Or, if you knew what you were doing, you didn't know it was wrong. We've seen situations where parents have killed their own children, and they say, 'I knew I was doing that, but God was telling me it was the right thing to do.' Chances are this would not rise to that level. But the question then becomes, was there enough damage done somehow that it had an impact on her ability to make rational decisions? You know, if you've got some experts to say, and they could point to real reasons for that to happen, then you might be able to argue as her lawyer, 'Well, she shouldn't be looked at in terms of the top count of murder one,' but maybe it had such an impact on her ability to make rational decisions that it could drop down to something such as a manslaughter. So, that's something you might see being argued."
But, Ford added, her arrests over the years won't help her case.
"If I'm her lawyer, I'm coming in saying she has all these mental and emotional problems because of that, and the prosecutor's going to look at me and say, 'Oh, yeah, what about her history of problems here and some violence?' You might be able to explain it away, but certainly a judge, if you ever got to a sentencing, a judge is going to look at that, it's not going to be something that would help the girl."
"Early Show" Contributor Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, a child and adolescent psychologist, said on the broadcast that Mee's former hiccup fame is important here.
She said, "Here was a young woman, 15, or 16 years old who ends up in the public eye, has all of this notoriety, and just as quickly it goes away. And what does that do for a young person's self-esteem? We see a lot of young adults who can't handle the spotlight, and here's one who's not trained to handle the spotlight. In it, gone, a lot of secondary gain from it. What does that do to self-esteem later on? It's certainly going to be troublesome."
What can parents learn from this case?
Hartstein said, "I think there is this issue where the mom says, 'This isn't my daughter. This isn't who I know.' And I think we have to be really careful of what we put our kids out there for everyone to see. Because now she's open and exposed, and if she is this sweet and naive girl like the mother is indicating, she's easily prey for other people. So we have to really be aware as parents just take a step back and protect our kids maybe a little more than we might be."
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. Jennifer Mee -- once known as the "hiccup girl" for her prolonged battle in 2007 with a case of the hiccups -- was arrested over the weekend.
CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reported Mee is in jail, accused of murder in the case of a robbery gone horribly wrong.
Mee gained fame and national attention as a 15 year-old with a five-week case of the hiccups. Now 19, she's gaining infamy for her alleged part in a murder in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Over the weekend, Mee and accomplices Laron Raiford and Lamont Newton were charged with first-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Walmart employee Shannon Griffin. According to police, Mee met Griffin online, and lured him to a vacant house to be robbed.
"Hiccup Girl" Jennifer Mee Charged with Murder
"Hiccup Girl" Found After Running Away
PICTURES: Jennifer Mee
Police say that, during that robbery, Griffin struggled and was eventually shot.
Police say Mee was not the gunman.
CBS News Legal Analyst Lisa Bloom says, "If you go to commit a felony, a serious felony, and a murder results, you're responsible for that murder, so she's in a heap of legal trouble."
On "The Early Show" CBS News Legal Analyst Jack Ford agreed, saying, "Even if she didn't know, if she thought she was only luring him in to be robbed, and said, 'I had no idea that a gun was going to be involved here." there's still what you call felony murder charge in Florida, and in most jurisdictions. What that says is, if you willingly participate in a felony, here a robbery, even if you had no idea that the other people involved were carrying guns or had plans to hurt somebody, you are still just as responsible as the person who pulled the trigger."
Mee's mother recently spoke to a local radio show and defended her daughter, saying, "I've said for a while now that her case of the hiccups wasn't a case of the hiccups, it was a curse of the hiccups. ... She's very naive. I just think she was getting herself into stuff where she didn't really realize what she was doing."
But Mee's MySpace page shows anything but innocence, Glor said. She calls herself a "female version of a hustla" and writes: "ont let the age fool you. The struggles ive been through has made me grown up so much."
The police press release announcing her arrest details the troubles she's experienced since her famous case of the hiccups. They include running away from home and several instances of domestic violence involving a boyfriend.
So how could she defend herself? Could her defense be built on her former hiccups bout?
Ford said, "You have to look at what sort of emotional damage she might have suffered. It was a bizarre episode. We all know that. But the question becomes, is it enough to give rise to some sort of legal defense?"
He explained, "First thing you look at is an insanity defense, for instance. Insanity, basically, you have to prove that, because of what your underlying mental condition is, you either didn't know what you were doing, you didn't know you had a gun in your hand, you thought it was a banana. Or, if you knew what you were doing, you didn't know it was wrong. We've seen situations where parents have killed their own children, and they say, 'I knew I was doing that, but God was telling me it was the right thing to do.' Chances are this would not rise to that level. But the question then becomes, was there enough damage done somehow that it had an impact on her ability to make rational decisions? You know, if you've got some experts to say, and they could point to real reasons for that to happen, then you might be able to argue as her lawyer, 'Well, she shouldn't be looked at in terms of the top count of murder one,' but maybe it had such an impact on her ability to make rational decisions that it could drop down to something such as a manslaughter. So, that's something you might see being argued."
But, Ford added, her arrests over the years won't help her case.
"If I'm her lawyer, I'm coming in saying she has all these mental and emotional problems because of that, and the prosecutor's going to look at me and say, 'Oh, yeah, what about her history of problems here and some violence?' You might be able to explain it away, but certainly a judge, if you ever got to a sentencing, a judge is going to look at that, it's not going to be something that would help the girl."
"Early Show" Contributor Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, a child and adolescent psychologist, said on the broadcast that Mee's former hiccup fame is important here.
She said, "Here was a young woman, 15, or 16 years old who ends up in the public eye, has all of this notoriety, and just as quickly it goes away. And what does that do for a young person's self-esteem? We see a lot of young adults who can't handle the spotlight, and here's one who's not trained to handle the spotlight. In it, gone, a lot of secondary gain from it. What does that do to self-esteem later on? It's certainly going to be troublesome."
What can parents learn from this case?
Hartstein said, "I think there is this issue where the mom says, 'This isn't my daughter. This isn't who I know.' And I think we have to be really careful of what we put our kids out there for everyone to see. Because now she's open and exposed, and if she is this sweet and naive girl like the mother is indicating, she's easily prey for other people. So we have to really be aware as parents just take a step back and protect our kids maybe a little more than we might be."
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