{"product_id":"i-have-struck-mrs-cochran-with-a-stake-sleepwalking-insanity-and-the-trial-of-abraham-prescott-paperback","title":"I Have Struck Mrs. Cochran with a Stake: Sleepwalking, Insanity, and the Trial of Abraham Prescott - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eLeslie Lambert Rounds\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow the forgotten case of murder while sleepwalking changed history \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAfter creeping out of bed on a frigid January night in 1832, teenage farmhand Abraham Prescott took up an ax and thrashed his sleeping employers to the brink of death. He later explained that he'd attacked Sally and Chauncey Cochran in his sleep. The Cochrans eventually recovered but--to the astonishment of their neighbors--kept Prescott on, somehow accepting his strange story.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis decision would come back to haunt them. While picking strawberries with Sally in an isolated field the following summer, Prescott used a fence post to violently kill the young mother. His explanation was again the same; he told Chauncey he'd fallen asleep and the next thing he knew, Sally was dead. Prescott's attorneys would use both a sleepwalking claim and an insanity plea in his defense, despite the historically dismal success rates of these arguments. In the two murder trials that followed, Prescott was convicted and sentenced to death both times.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrescott's crime has landmark significance, however, notably because many believed the boy was mentally ill and should never have been executed. The case also highlights the discriminatory role class plays in the American justice system.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eUsing contemporaneous accounts as well as information from other insanity and sleepwalking defenses, author Leslie Lambert Rounds reconstructs the crime and raises important questions about privilege, societal discrimination against the mentally ill and the disadvantaged, and the unfortunate secondary role of women in history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLeslie Lambert Rounds\u003c\/strong\u003e is a writer and historian who serves as the executive director of the Dyer Library and Saco Museum. Author of the award-winning \u003cem\u003eI My Needle Ply with Skill\u003c\/em\u003e, Rounds has written books on topics from schoolgirl embroidery to the local history of Saco, Maine. She also writes a newspaper column for the \u003cem\u003eBiddeford-Saco-OOB Courier\u003c\/em\u003e that covers history, literature, and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 284\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 8.9 x 5.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 20, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53387283398931,"sku":"9781606354094","price":26.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0965\/6300\/3667\/files\/8Ezv3J_dRC9781606354094.webp?v=1769522104","url":"https:\/\/finduslaw.com\/products\/i-have-struck-mrs-cochran-with-a-stake-sleepwalking-insanity-and-the-trial-of-abraham-prescott-paperback","provider":"FindUSlaw Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}