小男孩的妈妈叫郑明华。初识她，是在我们华人教会周日敬拜的托儿所。我儿子那时不到两岁，她的儿子差不多十五个月大。小男孩很可爱，是个混血儿。明华对儿子及其耐心，看得出是个非常有爱心的妈妈。可是小家伙比别的孩子具有攻击性，比他大一岁的男孩子去拿他的玩具，他就很使劲地拽人家的头发。最后一次见她们母子俩，是在教会组织的一次姐妹会上。小家伙很兴奋地跑进跑出，明华好脾气地在后面追他，给他折纸，试着让他安静。当时我心里就想，这个妈妈真是好有耐心啊。

今年年初，我听到噩耗，据报道，2009年12月，明华与丈夫商议离婚时，”两人时有口角，他(明华丈夫古恩)一时气愤，失手勒毙妻子”。古恩将尸体折起放在皮箱内，放到阳台上。早上他将儿子送往托儿所，然后去警局自首。小男孩那时候19个月大。

明华的父母来美奔丧，又撒泪而去。小男孩被儿童和家庭服务中心临时判给古恩的妈妈监管。一对白发人，同时失去了女儿和小孙儿。

上周在去公司的路上，突然听到收音机里的新闻。勒死妻子的男人因故意杀人被判了七年刑。七年！当时我的心仿佛停止了跳动，不敢相信自己的耳朵，只有七年吗？！到了公司，赶紧上网查新闻 --

35岁的古恩五岁开始被祖父多次性虐待，从小被父亲多次殴打。因此被告请的心理学家认为古恩有精神病。可能由于童年的创伤，还患有分离性障碍。被告方的另一位专家说，古恩也有亚斯伯格综合症(Asperger syndrome)，自闭症的一种。

因此古恩的律师向陪审团提出，基于精神错乱，古恩无罪。因为古恩不明白事情的本质和后果，他的脑子没有理性的控制。

费郡的检察官则向陪审团提出，古恩应被定为一级谋杀。检察官的心理专家说古恩没有疯，他说，精神病不可以是一个杀人执照。谋杀犯罪时的不理性和精神病是两码事。

古恩告诉警方，他和妻子当时在为离婚协议争吵。妻子危胁说要带儿子去中国，让他永远也见不着。古恩说，他最后记得的是，他一步步走向妻子。当他醒来时，他在妻子身体上，他的手环着妻子的脖子，她死了。(Kuhne said that the last thing he remembered was stepping toward his wife. When he awoke, he was on top of her, his hands around her neck, and she was dead.)

陪审团经过六个小时的考虑，分成两组。大部分人认为是二级谋杀，其余的人则认为古恩因精神错乱而无罪。最终陪审团同意判古恩故意杀人罪七年刑期。(故意杀人最高刑期十年) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/13/AR2010101306374.html

明华的儿子现在仍与凶手的母亲住在一起，等待儿童和家庭服务中心的最后判决。可怜的孩子啊！我心痛。

7 years for strangling wife, putting body in suitcase

By Tom Jackman

Thursday, October 14, 2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/13/AR2010101307082.html

A Herndon man who strangled his wife, put her body in a suitcase, then surrendered to police and immediately confessed was convicted of voluntary manslaughter Wednesday and sentenced to seven years in prison by a Fairfax County jury, which rejected his defense that he was insane.

The trial of Jamie A. Kuhne, 35, was emotionally charged, as jurors learned of a horrific childhood marked by repeated sexual abuse by his paternal grandfather and repeated beatings by his father.

A defense psychologist said that Kuhne was mentally ill and suffered from a dissociative disorder perhaps linked to his childhood trauma. Another defense expert said that Kuhne also had Asperger syndrome, a form of autism.

So Kuhne's attorneys asked a jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity. "Jamie did not understand the nature, character and consequences of his act at the time," defense attorney Joseph T. Flood said. "His mind was not under the control of reason."

Fairfax prosecutors asked the jury to convict Kuhne of the first-degree murder of Minghua Zheng, 36. The prosecutors' mental expert said that Kuhne was not insane.

"Mental illness is not a license to kill in the commonwealth of Virginia," Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Katherine E. Stott said. "Please don't confuse the irrational matter of someone committing murder with someone who's insane. They're two different things."

The facts of the slaying, inside the couple's apartment near Herndon Parkway on Dec. 10, were not in dispute. The couple met in graduate school at George Mason University, were married in August 2007, had a son the next year and were in the process of divorcing.

Kuhne told police that he and Zheng began arguing over the terms of their divorce and that Zheng threatened to take their son to China and keep him from Kuhne forever. Kuhne said that the last thing he remembered was stepping toward his wife. When he awoke, he was on top of her, his hands around her neck, and she was dead.

Kuhne told police that he folded Zheng into a large suitcase and placed it on the apartment balcony so their son would not see her. In the morning, he took his son to day care, then returned home and wrote a note that said, "I did not mean for this to happen, I only wanted her to stop saying she would take my son away from me."

The note detailed where the boy was and provided names and contact information for people who might take care of him, as Kuhne was estranged from his family. He took the note to Herndon police headquarters, handed it to a woman at the front desk and then gave a videotaped confession, although he said he could not remember the actual killing.

As Flood and fellow defense attorney James G. Connell began meeting with Kuhne in jail and unspooling his life story, they felt that something wasn't quite right. In his statement to Sgt. Dennis Royal, for example, Kuhne was asked, "Are you working?" and Kuhne answered, straightforwardly, "No, I'm here with you."

Neuropsychologist Joette James examined Kuhne and determined that he had Asperger syndrome, characterized by difficulty interacting with others, noticing visual cues, and understanding humor or sarcasm.

Kuhne revealed a lengthy history of sexual abuse. In a taped statement made in jail and played for the jury, Kuhne discussed being raped by his grandfather repeatedly around age 5, when he lived in Pennsylvania. He also told of spankings and beatings by his father. Forensic psychologist Michael Hendricks said Kuhne had attempted suicide many times, surrendered with the intent of being executed and reported hearing voices.

"He didn't understand what he was actually doing" when he killed his wife, Hendricks said.

In her closing argument, Stott pointed to medical evidence that choking someone to death takes a minimum of four minutes. "That's not an act that occurs without someone knowing what they're doing," she said.

Flood said the threat of losing his son, "the only person he ever truly loved," overwhelmed Kuhne and sent him into a "profound dissociative state."

The boy has been temporarily placed with Kuhne's mother in Washington state, pending a final custody ruling.

The jury was given a range of options between first-degree murder and not guilty by reason of insanity, including second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter and not guilty. After six hours of deliberation, the jury had split into two camps: most for second-degree murder, some for not guilty by reason of insanity, two jurors said.

So the jury compromised on voluntary manslaughter, jurors Grant Elliott and Dan Bogstad said. "The guy seemed to have no guile," Bogstad said. "So was he really motivated to kill her? Was it malice?"

Elliott said that even if the argument started in the heat of passion, at least four minutes of strangulation indicated an intent to kill. "I would have been comfortable with second-degree" murder, he said.

The jury could have given Kuhne up to 10 years in prison