'Multiple Personality' Mother Guilty of Murder
K A N S A S C I T Y, Mo., Oct. 21 -- A woman who claimed her multiplepersonalities contributed to the abuse deaths of her two sons wasconvicted today on 12 counts, including two of second-degreemurder.
Lawyers for Mary Bass, 32, put up an insanity defense andinsisted until the end that Bass had severe psychosis that includeda personality named “Sharon” who controlled her actions.
Gary and Larry Bass, both 8, died in October 1999 after beingstarved and infected with burns. Officials said the motherroutinely locked the boys in a room and fed them little, andallegedly dipped the boys’ feet in scalding water as punishment.
Two defense medical experts called Bass profoundly mentally illand said she was inhabited by several personalities.
The weeklong trial was marked by strange outbursts from Bass.
At one point, assistant prosecutor Dan Miller asked a defenseexpert about “Sharon,” described as a cruel alter ego whosurfaces to control Bass.
Bass then yelled, “Well, what you don’t understand? Gee!” andwas quieted by her lawyer. She then tore at her hand with a pen,which was taken away. She then used her fingers to scratch herwrist until she bled.
On Friday, she was removed from the courtroom after she cursed aprosecutor and yelled, “No, no, no, no — I’d rather kill myselfthan kill my kids.” She later laughed to herself as a prosecutorasked jurors to send her to prison.
Children Were Starved, Burned
Defense lawyers have not disputed that Bass burned the boys’lower legs and feet on Oct. 15, 1999. The Kansas City woman alsotold police that she locked the boys in a room before that andstarved them for weeks to discipline them. Larry died five daysafter he was burned and Gary two days after that.
Psychologist Marilyn Anne Hutchinson, of Kansas City, testifiedthat Bass suffered from multiple personalities, post-traumaticstress syndrome and forms of schizophrenia and depression.
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