Defense of Medea Infamous Infanticide

¶ … Defense of Medea

Infamous Infanticide Monster Trial Begins Today

Syngrafeas T. Altheia, Special to the Cornith Gazetteer

After months of pleading in front of the Greek Chorus, the inability to seat an impartial jury, and the Defense Attorney's please for change of venue, the "Medea" infanticide trial begins today. Medea, beautiful wife of the hero Jason, made front page news last year after she murdered both her children as well as her husband's new wife, Glauce, daughter of King Creon.

Medea's guilt in these heinous crimes is relatively undisputed, but it is likely her attorney will present circumstantial evidence to the Court asking for mitigating circumstances. Medea, our readers will remember, aided hero Jason in his search for the prized Golden Fleece. Jason, father of Medea's two children, married into a royal princess to secure his own future with the court, as Medea is only a barbarian woman. He told reporters, "I had hoped to merge our two families in an atmosphere of peace and love. However, I returned home to explain the situation to Medea, but found that despite my desire to "kiss my children's dear lips…. And touch their soft skin" (1399-1404) she had already done her foul deed. When I asked her "what evil they met within their mother," Medea replied that their death was my fault, my "new marriage" (1363-65). Medea then admitted to me that she had killed the children, "The children are no more," she said, "This will hurt you" (1370).

Indeed, according to documents filed with the Court, both staff Nurse and Tutor feared for the children's lives, sensing that Medea was unstable enough in her anger and grief, to kill the children and plot the death of Jason's young wife. Evidence found in the home of Jason and Medea implicated her in the poisoning death of Glauce, and the unintentional, but still no less repugnant, death of Glauce's father, Creon, as he tried to aid his daughter.

In her defense, Medea has kept relatively quiet, indicating only that she is a victim, too. Her husband decided that he needed a younger wife, "simply a sex toy," she said, to assure him of his potency. She admits, "My friends, I have now decided what to do -- with all haste I shall kill my children and leave this country.. .They must die. And since the must, I who bore them, shall kill them" (1237-42).

The case is far from open and shut though. Defense counsel is expected to call numerous witnesses that support the plea of temporary insanity, brought on by realizing that she had been cast aside for a younger woman, a woman who would likely not love and cherish her children, and a woman, simply being younger and of higher birth, that became her husband's new dalliance. Calling herself an "ill-fated woman" (1251), Medea told reporters through an emissary that the very sight of the children reminded her of her sacrifices to Jason, and the uncovered plot that Creon and the princess were ready to "throw me out of this land and get away with it" (1358).

The trial promises to be lively, with the prosecution asking for the death penalty with all due prejudice. Defense will have its own challenges, guilt is apparent and admitted, it will remain to see the defense's skill in making the Judge and Jury believe that the circumstance surrounding the crime were sufficient to explain the act. When asked what he'd like to see happen to Medea, her attorney commented, "Has she not suffered enough. Has she not spent years of her life awaiting a husband, faithfully executing her duties to him and never straying. To find out that she was to be discarded and exiled, and that her children would call a young princess "mother" was just too much. Coupled with her barbarian heritage, she just snapped."

Medea the "monster" -- Trial summations due tomorrow.

Syngrafeas T. Altheia, Special to the Cornith Gazetteer

What an exciting judicial javelin match over the last few days. Media the "monster" on trial for the murder of her children and two others sits wide eyed at the defense table. Medea, accused of first-degree murder, infanticide, fraud, and emotional trauma, heard from teary witness after witness describe her cunning nature, her bestial temper, and her premeditation in the murders of her two children, Princess Glauce and King Creon.