The Governor’s Wife

They brought him a paper to sign. Forensic evidence was conflicting: a fractured infant’s skull; a slow, deep-brain bleed. “Died in its sleep,” one medical expert kindly deduced. The mother panicked, alone when it happened. The father absconded to his mistresses’ apartment, although that fact wasn’t presented at trial. Post-partum depression. She had become impossible to live with. She was receiving treatment: the drugs only intensified her reactions. The verdict: Capital Murder of an individual under six.  Sentenced to death by lethal injection. What did it matter now? It was his last day in office. The Governor pardoned his wife.

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