Baby killed not ‘family tragedy’ — it’s murder (Opinion)

According to investigators, Jada McClain already told them what happened. How she hid her pregnancy. How she and boyfriend Quaimere Mohammed decided they needed to do what was “best for them,” which was killing the baby after birth. How she gave birth on the toilet in the early morning hours without her parents hearing. How she held the newborn’s chest down to not let it expand its lungs and take in air. How once the baby was dead she contacted the boyfriend and how they drove around with the dead body then threw it in a dumpster. (That baby’s body made it to a landfill where a near impossible search was finally called off. That landfill will be the child’s final resting place.)

But her lawyer says he’s going to challenge all that she said to investigators. He says she didn’t kill the child. Attorney Thomas Catley says he’ll show what really occurred. He describes McClain as “sweet.” He says she’s “naive and immature.” And of course, because he knows what the truth is, he’s going to angle for an insanity defense and is already claiming McClain has a “detachment from reality.”

Right.

In court, as McClain’s family and friends sat weeping, the judge said this was a “highly charged case” and that it was a “family tragedy all around.”

It’s a tragedy whenever a child dies. But this is a murder case. The trial better be about cold-blooded, premeditated murder and not about high emotions and crying relatives and talk of family tragedy.

Spare me your insanity defense, Catley. I know you’re just “doing your job” but this is disgusting to hear a woman who could help throw her dead newborn into a dumpster referred to as “sweet.” This woman had choices. There is a safe haven law in New Jersey that allows anyone in this situation to bring a baby to any police station, fire station or hospital and hand the baby over with no questions asked. This case is the very reason this law exists. This child could have been allowed to live with people who had love to give to a child. Instead this child’s body will likely never be found, buried in a landfill like garbage. The true piece of garbage here is Jada McClain. This is not a trial about a family tragedy and a sweet naive girl. This is a trial about a woman charged with murder. Let’s keep our heads straight on this point.

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