Prosecutor: Wis. dad killed girls to hurt ex-wife

[raccoon]

Source: Associated Press


HUDSON, Wis. (AP) — The day his ex-wife could legally remarry, Aaron Schaffhausen hopped aboard a train and left North Dakota to go back to Wisconsin. The next day, he cut their three young daughters' throats, wrapped their necks with his spare T-shirts and tucked them into bed.

Prosecutors used those details in opening statements Tuesday to press their case that Schaffhausen was driven by revenge — not mental illness — and decided the best way to punish his ex-wife was to kill their girls. His defense attorney argued that Schaffhausen sank into depression after the divorce and couldn't control his emotions or actions.

Jurors will weigh those contrasting portraits to decide if Schaffhausen, 35, was sane when he killed his three daughters — 11-year-old Amara, 8-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Cecilia — on July 10 in River Falls.

As testimony began, jurors heard a recording of a 40-minute 911 call from Schaffhausen's ex-wife, Jessica Schaffhausen, in which she begged police to send officers to check on her daughters. "My ex-husband just called and said he killed my kids," she told the dispatcher.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/prosecutor-wis-dad-killed-girls-hurt-ex-wife-172459113.html

[Warren DeMontague]

1. I'm usually opposed to the DP

but in cases like this I'm sorely tempted to go the other way.

[HereSince1628]

8. Death penalty was banned in WI in 1853

[frylock]

13. good

[Tempest]

19. They should make an exception for child killers like this guy. n/t

[frylock]

20. i disagree..

prison is a perfect place for people like this to spend the remainder of their miserable lives.

[Warren DeMontague]

22. And life in prison is no walk in the park.

Still, if I am totally honest with myself, my oppo to the DP has the most to do with my knowledge of the inherent race and $$$ based biases in the justice system along with the knowledge that we sometimes get the wrong person.

[BobTheSubgenius]

23. Could not agree more.

Witness the results of the Death Row investigation(s) in Illinois a few years ago. A GOP governor who campaigned on a pro-DP platform was moved to declare a moratorium in his state.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. I know.

I was speaking of the larger philosophical point.

[babylonsister]

2. Revenge, depression?? Not anywhere

near a good enough 'excuse' for what he did.

[HereSince1628]

10. It probably won't be...everyone is entitled to the best defense a lawyer can produce

and sometimes the best one available is neither a good one nor likely to work.

[geek tragedy]

3. Not insane, just a domestic abuser who took things to the ultimate level.

Let the pig rot in whatever pen they hold him in, for life.

And show him pictures of his three daughters on a daily basis.

[Berlin Expat]

4. Yeesh. My gut tells

me this was a cold-blooded, calculated act of revenge against his ex-wife. We've all heard stories of how exes take vengeance against their former spouses/lovers/significant others after an acrimonious breakup, and this case sadly sounds just like that.

RIP to those poor little girls.

[Xipe Totec]

6. Cowardly little man. nt

[In_The_Wind]

7. OMG!

[LonePirate]

9. It's a shame his hatred of his ex meant more to him than the lives and love of his three daughters.

[HereSince1628]

12. That imbalance is likely to be near the root of the defenses theory

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. I'm sick to my stomach

[krakfiend]

14. ....

Horrible

[siligut]

15. Something horribly wrong

And the drugs and alcohol didn't help.

[roguevalley]

16. a guy in texas killed his kids including hanging his toddler

And emailed the pictures to his wife

[DisgustipatedinCA]

17. after he eats gruel every day for the next 50 years

I hope someone stops to ask him how that revenge thing is working out for him. Bastard.

[riverbendviewgal]

18. He should be in prison to his dying day

no parole.

[CrispyQ]

24. I have no words.