Marci Webber’s story was previously published on Mad in America on December 10, 2016 (“A Mother’s Very, Very Worst Nightmare”). In 2010, Marci was a 43 year old single mom of three and a law student. She had been prescribed an increasing array of psychiatric medications with poor medical monitoring for stress, and experienced a medication-induced psychotic episode. Under the delusion that her four year old daughter Maggie was about to meet a terrible fate, she killed her to “save her” and then tried to kill herself. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a state mental institution in the state of Illinois for up to 99 years.
I am Marci’s former therapist and have known her since 2002. For over seven years now, Marci and I have been trying unsuccessfully to get the mental health system and judicial system to acknowledge the true cause of her crime and let her go. Instead, Marci has been increasingly cruelly and inhumanely treated and retaliated against for speaking the truth.
On January 5th I sent the following letter of complaint to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office raising the possibility of official corruption. The Attorney General’s Office declined to act, referring it to the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Inspector General’s Office. To date, nothing has been done to help Marci.
Here is the letter I wrote. An excerpt:
I am urging you to investigate this situation. A great injustice is being done. Jeff York is charged with the responsibility of defending Marci and advocating for her and instead he has gone out of his way to sabotage her case. A few months ago I filed an ARDC complaint against him which went nowhere. Dr. Corcoran is charged with her treatment, but has knowingly lied about her mental status to keep her locked up (at a cost to taxpayers, incidentally, of $250,000 per year) and is supervising and most likely ordering her cruel and inhumane treatment. Why would they do this if there were not an ulterior motive? And why is Judge Bakalis not replacing York despite repeated requests even after having seen his inadequacy in representing Marci?
Marci is struggling in the facility where she’s currently being held, but she’s trying to stay positive that she still has some chance to be released in six months. She would very much welcome letters of support. Please consider writing to her at Elgin Mental Health Center, 750 South State Street, Elgin, IL 60123, or calling her at (847) 429-5748 or (847) 742-1040, ext. 3231 It would also help if Attorney General Lisa Madigan received letters urging her to investigate Marci’s situation. You can write to her at the address on the letter linked above.
Marci is also seeking an attorney to file civil litigation in one or all of the following areas: civil rights violations, medical malpractice, legal malpractice and/or product liability. If you can help or have suggestions of someone who can, please email me at [email protected].