Vermont woman shown on video cutting cop’s throat with knife acquitted of attempted murder

[Berlin]

Jennifer Berube, 40, was caught on security cameras attacking Officer Damon Nguyen's with a knife during an arrest in Rutland in December 2012. She was acquitted of second-degree murder, as well as a lesser charge.

 

(NOTE FROM BERLIN: The vid is not gory or anything as she fails to cut the cops throat through. also it's from behind. no blood visible. for the average viewer i believe it's watchable)

 

 

A Vermont woman who sneaked up behind a police officer while under arrest and allegedly tried to slit his throat with a knife was found not guilty of attempted murder.Jennifer Berube, 40, was acquitted of attempted second-degree murder and a lesser charge of attempted aggravated assault on Friday by a jury in Rutland, a city in western Vermont about 60 miles south of Burlington.Berube and her former husband, John MacLean III, were arrested in December 2012 for trying to use a stolen credit card, the Times Argus newspaper reported.While in police custody, Berube, who was homeless and hooked on heroin at the time, believed she heard MacLean trying to hang himself with his shoelaces in his holding cell, the Times Argus newspaper reported.In a bid to help, she slipped a Leatherman tool out of a hidden jacket pocket and attacked Officer Damon Nguyen with it.Surveillance footage from inside the station house showed Berube grabbing Nguyen by the neck with a 2-inch blade in her hand before getting overpowered by several other officers.

 

Nguyen suffered a cut near his jugular vein and was treated at a hospital.He has since recovered and was back on the job.It took the 12-man jury less than two hours to acquit Berube.During the trial, her defense attorneys argued she was merely trying to scare the officer, not kill him."She's an RN. She knows how to use a knife. If she wanted to kill she would have plunged the knife right in," attorney Daniel Sedon told the Times Argus after the verdict.

 

Prosecutors and other city officials, including the mayor, said they were disappointed in the verdict."I'm shocked and dismayed, quite frankly, not just by the verdict but by the disappointment I feel on behalf of members of the police department," Mayor Christopher Louras told the newspaper."I'm not convinced justice was served in this case."

 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-slit-throat-aqcuitted-attempted-murder-article-1.1815198

I wonder what would have happened to the verdict if it was a man attacking the officer instead.

[Kevin Beal]

Poor woman. She must be under a lot of stress.

[Demosthenes_]

After reading/watching more on this, it sounded more like the woman had the intentions of putting a knife to the officer's throat so he'd give her the keys. What she imagined would happened after that I am not so sure. It can be argued that because the officer was cut was because he moved suddenly and she either panicked or he turned into the knife.

 

However in a robbery if the robber points a gun at the teller demanding money, I think it is fair to say that the robber is threatening the teller's life for money, thus he'd be willing to kill the teller. I feel the jury would disagree in that the person is threatening to take their life but it is a bluff and had no actual intentions of killing anyone. I believe they back this up since she was a registered nurse and would likely know how to kill a person quickly by targeting major veins or arteries.

 

I do not agree with the jury's conviction, but I understand their point of view. It is clear to the jury that she did do a crime, but to them it was not clear that she was attempting to kill him.

[Berlin]

After reading/watching more on this, it sounded more like the woman had the intentions of putting a knife to the officer's throat so he'd give her the keys. What she imagined would happened after that I am not so sure. It can be argued that because the officer was cut was because he moved suddenly and she either panicked or he turned into the knife.

 

However in a robbery if the robber points a gun at the teller demanding money, I think it is fair to say that the robber is threatening the teller's life for money, thus he'd be willing to kill the teller. I feel the jury would disagree in that the person is threatening to take their life but it is a bluff and had no actual intentions of killing anyone. I believe they back this up since she was a registered nurse and would likely know how to kill a person quickly by targeting major veins or arteries.

 

I do not agree with the jury's conviction, but I understand their point of view. It is clear to the jury that she did do a crime, but to them it was not clear that she was attempting to kill him.

I agree, I mean though what happened if exactly same story but with a male nurse/attacker.

 

Like I believe the verdict would change so much with whoever is involved. Being a white female in this szenario probably is your best option.

[Demosthenes_]

I agree, I mean though what happened if exactly same story but with a male nurse/attacker.

 

Like I believe the verdict would change so much with whoever is involved. Being a white female in this szenario probably is your best option.

I do not feel like I can have an honest opinion until I know what she will be tried for after this conviction failed.

I am not ready to call sexism/racism in the favor of her being a female or white quite yet.

Even though their conclusion would not be the one I would've made, I feel it is still a rational one if it goes by the rules of the law.

[Berlin]

Yeah I think you're right I might have jumped the gun here. Also my knowedge about the american court system is way to small to evaluate the the outcome, maybe this is completely by the book.

[skibum]

Berlin,

 

What I find most telling about this thread is that: were this situation in reverse, nobody would EVER make a self-correcting post like your most recent one admitting that you may have misread the situation.

 

Did anyone ever apologize for the Duke Lacrosse accusations/story/prosecutions/lynch mob?

[cab21]

this is confusing

 

she thought someone was hanging in a cell, so she cut the throat of a different person, while on heroin?