Mommy Dead and Dearest Page #8

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in my brain.

It was like it was all not real.

I was on a bunch of medications,

and I know that's no excuse,

but on Xanax, I felt like

I had no emotion

and I wasn't thinking right.

Munchausen by proxy victims

can lose contact

with reality at times,

and that may be part of the defence

in Gypsy's case.

She may have trouble distinguishing

what's real and what isn't.

Is sickness real or is it fake?

Is death real, or is it exaggerated

or fake?

So, I think she had limited capacity

for reality testing,

which just means seeing

what's normal behavior

and what's really strange behavior.

Stanfield:
Gypsy grew up in essentially

an alternate reality

to what the rest of us live.

By her mother isolating her

from the outside world,

she doesn't know or understand

what normal really is.

Hi.

Gypsy:
In so many ways,

I don't know what's right, what's wrong,

but to say that, yes, I did this.

I'm sorry for it.

I feel bad for it.

It just feels good to be honest.

Gypsy:
The only thing that

I could've done differently

that I know better now is reach out

to my dad,

told my dad.

And he could have came and got me,

and I would've went and lived with him.

Rod:
There's a McDonald's right here

where I'd visit with Gypsy.

At that time, she was real young.

I remember one visit...

she was so scared of me, man.

She was shaking.

I don't know what Dee Dee

told her about me,

but I probably was the big bad wolf

or something, you know?

Gypsy must have been so confused,

you know?

She was probably telling her

the day before

that, you know, I don't love her

and all this stuff,

and then here she is visiting with me

and telling her,

"Look, that's your daddy.

Give him a hug," you know?

That's old history now, so we're

just going to try to build

a real father-daughter

intimate relationship,

you know, like we should have.

It's hard.

Thinking what she had to go through

and that she didn't have

to go through all that.

- Woman:
See this?

- Look at that.

She would probably have been

a perfectly fine kid

had it not been her mom was Dee Dee.

Okay, y'all want to get

the table ready or what?

- Women:
Yes.

- We're going to eat off the trays?

Claude:
She could've had a normal life.

I hope she gets out, and

I don't know what--

what she's going to do when she gets out.

She was punished enough

to where they should let her go free.

That's the way I feel.

'Cause that child's--

she's been through a lot.

Kristy:
Look at her.

- Woman:
Is that Gypsy?

- Yeah, when she was normal.

I blame myself now for not doing more.

I mean, it is what it is.

I'm not a "blame yourself" type of guy,

but who else is there to look at,

you know?

Okay.

This is-- sorry.

I didn't realize they were going to

bring you out immediately.

This is the new charge--

class-A felony

of murder in the second degree,

and then acting in concert with another

who knowingly caused the death

of your mother

by stabbing her, okay?

This is in the case of State of Missouri

v. Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

Please raise your right hand.

Do you swear and affirm

that the testimony

you're about to give will be the truth,

the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth?

Yes, sir.

Would you state your name

for the record, please?

- Gypsy Blanchard.

- And how old are you?

I'm going to be 25 years old, but 24.

Okay. And how far did you go in school?

About the second grade.

How do you plead to the class-A felony

of murder in the second degree?

- Guilty.

- The court finds that there is

a factual basis for a plea of guilty.

The court accepts defendant's

plea of guilty

and finds the defendant guilty thereof

beyond a reasonable doubt.

She's to be sentenced to 10 years

in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

She'll have to do 85% of her sentence

before she's eligible for parole.

Let's go off the record.

There you are.

Patterson:
This case is unusual

and extraordinary.

Gypsy Blanchard endured

nearly two decades

of systematic, purposeful abuse

at the hands of her mother

for the purpose of fraud.

And so, by amending to murder

in the second degree,

we were able to both hold

Gypsy Blanchard accountable

for the murder,

which was not justified

nor excusable,

but yet account for

those mitigating circumstances.

All of us involved are--

it's a relief.

You know, at the very beginning of this,

there was the question of

the death penalty on the table.

Ultimately, it's the best

outcome for her.

It's the best outcome

for the State of Missouri

and ultimately the right thing

to do for everybody.

That one's in this pocket.

Ooh.

I mean, it's a murder.

There's nothing we can do about that,

so, you know, that has to be dealt with.

But ultimately, when you look at the fact

that at the end of that 8 1/2 years,

when she's already done a year of that,

she'll be 32 years old.

She'll be three years younger

than I am right now.

So, I mean, she will actually be able

to enjoy just the world.

Carr:
Do you think 10 years in jail

is better

than 10 years of living

the way that you had to live?

Yes, it is.

I need to start over like I'm newly born.

- Honey?

- Yeah.

- Green?

- Yeah.

White or green?

No, no, no, no, no.

It's my favorite hat.

No, other hat.

Kristy:
I'm holding on to that girl.

You know, it's going to be

very emotional.

Yeah, you're a big crybaby.

You're probably gonna cry, too.

And then when you're gonna cry,

I'm going to cry

because you're crying,

because it's hard to see grown men cry.

I don't cry.

Bullshit.

You cry.

- Hello.

- Daddy.

Oh...

I've missed you.

- You're so big.

- I know!

I'm almost as tall as you.

So how's everything going

with you health-wise?

- You good? You feel good?

- It's going good, yeah.

You've been exercising

and everything?

I've been going to the rec yard,

been exercising.

That's good.

My tube site is finally all healed.

It's gone?

That's good.

Looks great.

Looks good.

All healed up, so...

Every once in a while,

I get a little pain,

but I think it's just

phantom pain or something.

Yeah.

So, are you glad that it's--

I'm happy that it's over.

Yeah. We was-- honestly,

we was hoping for less.

I mean, I know it was your decision

and everything.

- That's a gamble you take.

I mean--

- Yeah.

I look at it like

you could've got 30 years.

I look at it that I could've got

life in prison, you know?

I was hitting a really down point,

and it was before--

before the plea agreement,

before I knew anything about it.

I was thinking if I get life in prison

and that is what I get,

I'm committing suicide

right now, you know?

I was seriously considering it.

- Well, baby--

- 'Cause I'm like, it could just be over.

I just want to make sure

you know that

if I had done anything wrong,

I'm sorry, baby.

No, I don't think

you did anything wrong.

I think it's just Mom was very good

at what she was doing,

and I think you just

was completely in the dark.

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