Iowa's Long Fight Over Postpartum Depression Evidence
Case summary
In September 1998 Anfinson drowned her infant son in Des Moines. She was convicted of second-degree murder in 2000 and sentenced to 50 years. Her appeals turned on whether evidence of her postpartum depression should have been placed before the jury: the Iowa Court of Appeals initially upheld the conviction, but in 2008 the Iowa Supreme Court found her counsel ineffective for failing to present that evidence and remanded the case. Rather than face a second jury, Anfinson waived a retrial and pleaded guilty to child endangerment. She was granted parole in November 2012 after serving nearly 12 years. Her case is frequently cited in legal scholarship on whether US law can accommodate perinatal mental illness at all.
Mental-health context
Anfinson had been hospitalised for depression, suicidality and panic attacks. At her first appeal, the Iowa Court of Appeals held there was no authority in Iowa law for using postpartum depression as the basis of an insanity defence. In 2008 the Iowa Supreme Court held that her trial lawyer's failure to put her postpartum depression and post-birth behaviour before the jury amounted to ineffective assistance of counsel.
Status / outcome
Second-degree murder conviction (2000) set aside for ineffective assistance (2008); pleaded guilty to child endangerment; paroled November 2012
Sources
- https://jaapl.org/content/40/3/318
- https://www.thegazette.com/article/iowa-woman-gets-50-year-sentence-in-babys-death/
- https://www.radioiowa.com/2012/11/01/des-moines-woman-covicted-of-murdering-baby-given-parole/
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