Law And More

Rage - Latest Victims Include Presnar Family in Florida

In Florida, there have been three deaths - probably unnecessary ones.

The deceased are Stanley Presnar, employed by the Coast Guard, Gretche his wife, and a seven year old son. Another daughter is in critical condition.

As the Miami Herald reports, Stanley committed suicide after gunning down his wife and son during an early morning domestic dispute today. 

Likely rage took him over.

That kind of overwhelming emotion is particularly intense in domestic situations.

But it's a universal feeling. We experience it on the road, waiting in line, after being fired, and even when an acquaintance seems to let us down.

Some of us have been lucky. In our little lives we were socialized how to manage rage.

My own tutoring lesson had been accidental.

I was interviewing a Manhattan psychologist for an article on careers.

As a side issue, I asked: Why is there so much rage in human life? After all, that goes all the way back to how Cain felt toward his brother Abel. 

Essentially, the psychologist's answer was that the release of that emotion is an experience that is very satisfying. We feel good when we let the rage rip. So, we assume it's the right thing to do. We don't reflect on consequences such as being arrested for disorderly conduct or murdering a loved one. 

My next question for the psychologist was: How can we short-circuit rage? 

His approach is to have clients shift their attention to the middle of the field force. That's the neutral zone. There we can reflect on our options - instead of leaping into action or simply being passive. 

On December 12th, I applied his advice when AT&T, for a second times, jacked me around. 

Suppose Stanley Presnar had been able to center himself?

The odds are that he and his family would be celebrating the rest of the holiday season. 

May all of us look at our own strong emotions. Self-awareness is the first step to managing ourselves, no matter what.

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Heaven: If It Exists, Will Lawyers Be Allowed In? (George H.W. Bush Wasn't a Lawyer)

A Christian, George H.W. Bush had a firm belief in an afterlife.

What seemed to ease his transition from living to the dying process was his conviction that he would join his wife Barbara in heaven. It worked. According to close friends, he had a peaceful death. 

But that was Bush. That's not the majority of us who have veered off from formal religions and are left to sort through old-line myths about the Next.

Also, there is antipathy about the character of lawyers. If heaven exists, they have to be wondering if they will get passed the gatekeepers, on the first try. Or will they have to file motion after motion?

So, there's the book "Heavens on Earth: The Scientific Search for the Afterlife, Immortality, and Utopia." The author is Michael Schermer, columnist for Scientific American. Here the book can be ordered from Amazon.

From the get-go, Shermer shows he doesn't buy Christian mythology. For example, he observes that no one has returned from the dead to tip us off about the Next. Obviously, he rules out Jesus Christ's. According to religious ideology, Jesus came back to life post his death on the cross. 

However, Shermer does point out that 74 percent of Americans believe in heaven (Source: Pew Forum). The rub, of course, is that no one will have this confirmed until death. So, both during this best time of the year and more routine days and nights, we have to live on with no proven-out answer - only our little individual mindset.

Oh, there have been scientific studies. But, science has lost our allegiance. Remember what "they" said about taking antidepressants forever if we had had one clinical depression. Smirk smirk. And what about the firm faith in psychoanalysis? Analysts such as David W. Harder were positioned and packaged for the so-called sophisticated as the Secular Shamans. 

Consequently, what's Next remains a mystery. The upside of that is that we can unleash our imaginations to play out the kind of existence we can enjoy after how difficult life has become on earth.

I envision being in a field surrounded by all my pet children who have died.

We have no time commitments. We just are, together.

There is no more clinical depression. No more earnest therapists like David W. Harder. 

No former college classmates who caused us so much pain.

No more disappointments about client assignments we anticipated which didn't come through.

And, no more regrets.

Those, in my realm of make-believe, are days of heaven. I have much to look forward to. That hope will keep me going. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

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"20/20" Features Watts' Murders - Still No Consensus about Motive

"20/20" joined the many media outlets sorting through the horror of the Watts' three murders.

But, like them, tonight it couldn't provide a consensus opinion about what was Chris Watts' motive in strangling his pregnant wife and smothering his two young daughters. 

The "20/20" narrative presented all the intersecting reasons why Watts might have committed the murders.

They include his hot romance with his co-worker, the trauma of having responsibility for another child, and the debt the family was in.

But, as the was pointed out, many other men deal with similar or even the exact same pressures and don't off their wives and children. 

So, the puzzle remains why he went the murder route instead of divorce to end the marriage or counseling to try to repair it. 

It could simply be that the guy was and is crazy.

Crazy people can live their lives in a seemingly normal manner for years. Then there is the aberrant behavior which gets them saddled with one of those labels such as "psychopath" or even "serial killer." 

The odds are that criminologists will not get the long-term opportunity to study Watts. And this tragedy will remain a mystery.

Recently Watts was transferred from a Colorado prison to one out of state. The reason stated was for his safety. But it is unlikely the authorities can keep him safe in his new location. His crimes are too well known and they are deemed unforgiveable in most prisons. 

Watts will probably be murdered. Or, he will commit suicide. Earlier he had been on suicide watch. The truly crazy frequently wind up dying relatively young. They can't manage their demons. The demons get the upper hand. And that's that.

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

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Chill Should Go Through Psychiatry Profession - Widow of 2017 Suicide Charles Murphy Sues

The suicides of high achievers have preoccupied constituencies, ranging from their devastated colleagues to the media.

Among the most recent have been the shocking deaths of Navy admiral Scott Stearney and bankruptcy lawyer Gab MacConaill.

Just yesterday, the medical powers that be in England classified the death of broadcast personality Vicki Archer a suicide. 

The question many ponder is: Who's next?

But now there is an added chapter to that grim narrative. It should be blasting a chill through the psychiatric profession. 

In Manhattan Supreme Court, Annabella Murphy filed a lawsuit against New York University Langone professor Aaron Metrikin.

She contends that psychiatrist could have prevented the March 2017 of her husband Charles Murphy through the appropriate medication and hospitalization. Here are more details from the New York Post.

After struggling with suicidal ideation for a while, Charles jumped from a Manhattan building. Some might recognize his name from his being among the victims of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scam. Back then Charles was with the hedge fund Fairfield Greenwich which had invested $7 billion. His academic background included a law degree from Harvard and the MBA from MIT. When he committed suicide he was employed at Paulson & Company. 

Psychiatry, along with psychology, might be more art and the leverage of social intelligence than science. That, of course, makes it a sitting duck for litigation. Here are some of the legal grounds for medical malpractice lawsuits against psychiatrists. 

Since clinical depression is on the rise, more and more will be receiving official treatment from psychiatrists and psychologists. And, since suicide rates are also increasing in the U.S. the lawsuit by Annabella could trigger lots more of those by families and estates who assess malpractice. 

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

When Public Relations Firms Have Public Nuisance Defendants as Clients - The 5 Do-Nows

Here is the article I published today on Odwyerpr.com on how public relations firms have to manage clients' public nuisance litigation.

Being sued for creating a public nuisance automatically brands defendants the bad guys.

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Nichol Kessinger and Amber Frey - Was Wife's Pregnancy Tipping Point?

Before wives become pregnant in shaky marriages they should reflect that having a child on the way might have been the tipping point in the murders by Scott Peterson and Chris Watts.

Both did in their pregnant spouses.

Watts also included in that package their two young daughters.

Even in more stable marriages, a pregnancy can cause extreme stress. In my years in recovery, that often has been a trigger for a relapse back into active alcoholism. 

Watts' mistress Nichol Kessinger might also be able to connect some dots on all that. A book could result. Wealth might follow. 

The Daily Mail reports that once Kessinger became aware of the murders she did a Google search on Peterson's mistress Amber Frey. The police tracked down her online inquirers regarding how much Frey made on a book deal and if she became financially comfortable. 

Kessinger likely senses she had a good story to tell.

What the police also turned up is that before the Watts' family went missing Kessinger did a Google search on the mechanics of anal sex. Earlier, she also had began shopping around the internet for a wedding dress. 

But what will sell the book is not so much anal sex and the dashed hopes of a young woman but probably the layers and layers of complexity embedded in Watts' inner wiring. Criminologists will be doing plenty of interviews with Watts, if he doesn't commit suicide in prison or is offed by those who don't like child/fetus killers. 

In addition to his affair with Kessinger, Watts had been involved with a male lover.

Why didn't he prevent the conception of a third child, especially since discovery turned up that the family was experiencing financial distress? Mortgage payments hadn't been made. Before her death, the wife's credit card was rejected when she tried to do an online purchase. 

Whatever made him assume he could get away with murder? Frequently, that has been a collective psychosis among frustrated husbands. Divorce just doesn't resonate with them. Or, it seems a dumb option. 

Kessinger could have unique insight into the many facets of Watts. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

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Love Lost - Chicago, Ohio, Colorado

Again, there is a murder, taking the form of domestic violence. The suicide part occurred through death by cop.

That scenario of murder/suicide among current or former romantic partners is becoming increasingly common.

This time the setting was the Catholic hospital Mercy in Chicago, Illinois. The original target was a medical doctor, who had been previously engaged to the shooter. In all, four had died. Here are the few details currently available from USA Today.

Clearly, the supposed experts on human behavior and flashpoints haven't been able to figure out how to prevent domestic violence.

Earlier in the news today was also the arrest of former Ohio judge Lance Mason for the alleged fatal stabbing of his estranged wife Aisha Fraser in Shaker Heights.

Several years ago he had served nine months in prison and had his law license suspended for brutally beating her, in front of their two children.

Yet, those severe consequences allegedly didn't motivate him to learn to manage his rage.

Mason is atypical today. He didn't arrange the situation so he would be gunned down or off himself. 

Another atypical has been Chris Watts who today had been sentenced to life without parole. His rage seemed directed to the limits placed on him by having a pregnant wife and two children. After he murdered them he didn't kill himself. Instead he seemed to have high hopes that the love he was developing with another woman would bring what he needed. 

Reflection: Love or the hope for it is becoming a major cause of death. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

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Suicide - Legal Sector Has No Monopoly on Inner Suffering

Lawyers tend to be attention magnets.

When they are arrested, for instance, as George Jeffery had been recently, media outlets give that special coverage. 

So, their suicides also are prominent on the radar. For instance, Meghan Tribe just published an article on suicide in the legal sector in Law.com. 

However, as that very article points out, the rate of suicide among lawyers in 11th highest among the professions. Not even in the top 10. The source is the CDC. 

That doesn't mean that suicide is not a serious problem among lawyers. It is. And the number of suicides is now at 18.8 out of 100,000 - compared to the national average of 16.1 out of 100,000.

But many other professionals also seem to have a difficult time staying alive.

Ranging from insurance executives to graphic artists there had been a growing number of successful suicides in the upscale communities of southwestern and central Connecticut. Those were the active kinds. Usually they involved a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head or a jump from a high building.

In addition, there were the passive forms such as dying through reckless driving or ignoring symptoms of diabetes or heart disease. And, of course, isn't substance abuse a type of passive suicide? There's plenty of that in my recovery group. 

In general, the number of actual suicides is increasing. But suicidal ideation is nothing new. As we became less guarded, those from the Class of 1967 disclosed to me how they seriously contemplated jumping from the roof of the dorm. And those were supposedly less pressured times for college students. 

The New Testament positions and packages suicide as a negative. Judas is vilified for killing himself for betraying Jesus Christ.

However, more contemporary ideology is considering, in some situations, suicide as a rational option. Last August, in The New York Times, Paula Span examined rational suicide and the elderly. The choice seemed to make sense to those who were sliding into dementia. Last spring, Australian scientist David Goodall journeyed to Switzerland for assisted suicide. He was 104. He lacked the ability to enjoy his life any more. 

Suicide for a successful 42-year-old lawyer like Gabriel MacConaill may seem anything but rational. And that may be absolutely right. Had he felt he could seek out help without being penalized professionally, he might not have taken his life. But, no one knows that. His inner emotional turmoil might have been untreatable. 

Five members of my extended family took their lives. In only one situation might psychiatric treatment have prevented that. The other four had been in such severe distress for a long time and that suffering seemed to be accelerating. 

Instead of railing against suicide in this profession or that profession, more information should be made widely available on what are the outcomes from diverse treatments. That can awaken hope. 

Litigation Communications

Making points of law, policy issues, and politics accessible and engaging for the public, media, investors, and more. Complimentary consultation. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Birds of a Feather - Many of Us Don't Like Megyn Kelly and Also Don't Like Her Former Employer Jones Day, Either

There's that old adage: If you want to know who a person really is, observe who he or she associates with.

Yes, birds of feather hang out together.

The scientific term for that phenomenon is "mirror neurons." Human beings influence each other cell by cell.

That's exactly why mom and the nuns at Catholic grade school warned us about "bad companions."

So, it's no newsflash that many of us who dislike Megyn Kelly also dislike her former employer law firm Jones Day. They seem to have attributes in common.

I will leave the comprehensive listing of them for Jones Day to Joe Patrice at Abovethelaw.com. Here is just one of Patrice's myriad negative columns about what has been labeled as Donald Trump's go-to for legal counsel. 

Kelly's tragic flaw seems to be being locked within herself and therefore not being able to connect.

That became immediately obvious in the talk show format on her NBC Sunday night disaster which, as Joe Pompeo reports in Vanity Fair, has been "euthanized."

When she was political firebrand on Fox that wasn't an issue. Tossing rhetorical grenades was the format. It was effective.

Not being able to connect is, of course, bad for building an audience. The ratings for her morning show haven't been too hot.

However, it can also incur professional suicide in her relations with those in the "Today" loop whom she needs to cooperate.

The pile on by members of the "Today" family in response to her blackface mistake provided evidence of the intensity of dislike.

Had they liked her, they could have provided support - and forgiveness. As Hedrick Smith hammered in his classic book "The Power Game," the ability to be liked is a key form of power. John F. Kennedy was a master of that.

Psychologists and executive coaches could spend hours with the media trying to explain how the Megyn Kelly types get that way and if there is hope for change.

But, my experience being a communications strategist and content provider for those players  in high places indicates the prognosis isn't good.

Wealth and success (even if its peak has passed) frequently have hardened their personality contours. If they even admit imperfections, they likely will take the stance of William Shakespeare's King Lear. On the heath, where he has gone mad, Lear rants that he has been more sinned against than sinning.

The blackface stumble could provide NBC the opportunity to buy Kelly out of her contract. That will be, many of us will feel, good riddance.

Then we can devote our full attention to monitoring how Jones Day is faring in the court of public opinion. Often that has greater influence than the court of law.

If Trump keeps making serious mistakes or is accused of crimes the Jones Day brand could be badly tarnished.

Clients might fear guilt by association. Notice has Ted Olson, partner at Gibson, Dunn, backed out of lobbying for Saudi Arabia.

Full Disclosure: I had gone to college with females who mirrored Kelly's attributes and I have done communications assignments for lawyers who seemed to share the Jones Day public persona. The suffering was profound. I still have flashbacks.

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Michelle Rivera, County Attorney, Accused of Public Intoxication in Court Room

Sure, it's not the right thing to do to show up in the courtroom allegedly drunk. And, in that southern Iowa location of Oscelo, public intoxication is also a crime.

But, Michelle Rivera, county attorney there, may land on her feet. That is, voters will decide on November 6th if she will keep her job. That Democrat is running against Republican Adam Ramsay. Lots depends on how voters perceive the alleged inebriated behavior. After all, substance abuse is epidemic in the U.S.

As the New York Post reports, last Thursday Rivera was in the courtroom when a sheriff's deputy noticed she was slurring her words. The deputy demanded one of those breath tests. Rivera refused. She was then arrested and charged with public intoxication.

Afterwards Rivera told voters that she is going to fix the problem. They may believe her. And perhaps they should.

This run-in with the law, along with the humiliation, could motivate Rivera to get and stay sober. Those who understand the disease of alcoholism know that the excessive drinker has to want to stop.

It helps the motivation if there is a lot at stake. She certainly has that.

What I have observed in recovery programs is that those who have experienced success usually have the best track record for stopping drinking and staying stopped. Those without that kind of background tend to struggle to string sober days together and frequently relapse. 

Sure, some folks may be tittering about a county attorney alleging being drunk on the job. However, since consuming alcohol has become so mainstream and ritualistic binge drinking is cool, the odds are they too could wind up in the same kind of pickle. 

Attention is the currency of the 21^st century. Jane Genova helps you get it for products, services, points of view, causes, branding, careers after-50, and college admission.

In addition, this blog welcomes sponsored content.

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