Iowa Supreme Court: Postpartum Depression Should Have Been Disclosed in Murder Trial

An Iowa Supreme Court decision confirms that legal counsel for Heidi Anfinson was ineffective for not presenting evidence and investigating Anfinson's claims of postpartum depression.

An Iowa Supreme Court decision
handed down October 17 confirms that legal counsel for Heidi Anfinson was
ineffective for not presenting evidence and investigating Anfinson’s
claims of postpartum depression.

"There was ample evidence of Anfinson’s postpartum depression
available to trial counsel if he had chosen to undertake the most
rudimentary inquiry," Justice Daryl L. Hecht wrote in the decision. "He
chose instead to rebuff all attempts made by Anfinson’s family members
and her grief counselor to educate him. He closed not only his ears,
but also his eyes as he neglected to obtain medical recourds evidencing
Anfinson’s mental state."

The story of 15-day-old baby Jacob’s death – his body found in
Saylorville Lake, 16 miles from the family’s Des Moines home – captured
national attention and may have prompted other parents to seek help for postpartum depression.

In September 1998, when her husband returned home to find the infant
missing, Anfinson initially said the boy was stolen. Hours later she
told police that the infant had accidentally drowned when she left him
unattended in a bath seat, and that she had subsequently panicked and
placed his body in the lake. She led police to the place where she had
placed her son in about a foot of water with two rocks on his back.

Anfinson was originally charged with first-degree murder, but,
following an initial mistrial, was convicted of second-degree murder in
2000. The conviction was appealed, but upheld by the Iowa Court of
Appeals. At that point the court ruled that there was no authority in
Iowa law for using postpartum depression as a basis for an insanity
defense. Her family, including her husband, stood by her throughout the
process and have claimed that postpartum depression or postpartum
psychosis was the root cause of Anfinson’s actions. Her brother-in-law,
Bob Krause, has written extensively about the tragic incident.

According to court documents, Bill Kutmus, Anfinson’s defense
attorney, was with the family when Anfinson was released on bail. On
that day a woman approached the group and offered an envelope, saying
she knew about postpartum depression. Kutmus took the envelope and
proclaimed he "didn’t want to hear any talk of postpartum depression."
The next day he was quoted in a newspaper, suggesting that depression
was not a factor in the baby’s accidential death.

Kutmus told the court that his comments were an effort to ethically
"manage" and "balance" the news in furtherance of Anfinson’s accidental
death defense. He testified that he "didn’t want the public to even
think of postpartum depression, because postpartum depression means you
deliberately killed the baby."

The court examined statements from Anfinson’s family that she was
withdrawn in the days following Jacob’s birth. The sisters noted
"sores" on Anfinson’s legs, wounds they now believe were
self-inflicted. On Sept. 26, 1998, Anfinson was hospitalized and
treated for depression, suicidal ideation and panic attacks. Kutmus did
not request copies of her hospital records, nor did he asked for
records of her prior depressed episodes in 1980 (after giving birth and
placing the child for adoption) or in 1985 (following an abortion).

While the decision admits that admitting evidence of postpartum
depression would have had little stake in mounting a state insanity
defense, Hecht lays out three reasons why evidence of depression should
have been "developed and offered" during criminal proceedings:

  1. Why was Anfinson so distracted and inattentive on Sept. 20, 1998 that she left her two-week-old baby unattended in bath water?
  2. Why did Anfinson behave irrationally in subsequently taking Jacob’s
    body to the lake, buring it under rocks, returning home and going to
    sleep?
  3. Why was Anfinson’s affect flat and emotionless later that same day when she was questioned?

"The defense of ‘accidents happen’ chosen and presented by trial
counsel was highly unlikely to result in an acquittal if the three most
troublesome aspects of Anfinson’s conduct suggesting criminal
culpability were left unexplained," Hecht wrote. "Expert and lay
testimony presented by Anfinson a thte postconviction trial clearly
suggests trial counsel could have developed strong evidence detailing
the nature and extent of Anfinson’s depression and provided an
explanation for her bizzar behavior on the day of Jacob’s death."

Since receiving her sentence of 50 years with no chance of parole,
Anfinson has been held at the Iowa Correctional Instituation for Women
in Mitchellville. She could be free on bail as early as next week. A
new trial date has not yet been scheduled.