Jeannemarie Prefaut

French mother of an autistic daughter, Sophie. A former teacher, she had married Christian on 3/19/1962 and given birth to Sophie on 2/25/1971. Sophie was an autistic child and required continual care. There was practically no structure in France for autistic children and the doctors are unable to care for them. In cases of severe crisis the children are confined in psychiatric wards. Jeanne-Marie had promised to her daughter that this would never happen. At age 50, she worried about what would happen to her 23-year-old daughter. On the morning of 8/07/1994, Jeanne-Marie gave a large number of sedatives to Sophie and took her for a drive. While in the family car, Jeanne-Marie covered Sophie’s mouth with one hand and pinched her nose with the other, ending once and for all this family’s ordeal. Later in the morning Jeanne-Marie surrendered to police. On 2/21/1996, the court of Hérault found Jeanne-Marie Prefaut guilty "of the murder of a vulnerable person" and sentenced her to five-year suspended sentence. It was not an acquittal, but close, recognizing the act as a mercy-killing.