Marie Robards was a teenage girl dealing with family tension and feeling trapped. After learning her mother was staying with her unfaithful stepdad and being sent to live with her biological father, Marie planned to escape this ordeal by poisoning him.
She stole barium acetate from her chemistry class and mixed it into her dad's dinner to get her freedom back. He dies in agony, and in his funeral, Marie learns that her mom was planning to leave her stepdad anyway. Meaning she would have been free even if she didn't kill him.
Months later, she confided in a friend who eventually went to the police. Marie Robards was sentenced to 27 years for killing her father but was released on parole after just 10 years. She disappeared from the public eye, believed to be living under a new identity.
Do you think she deserved more time, or was her early release justified?
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