Regarding the June 26 Spotlight series “The desperate and the dead”: I noticed, on the front page of the Globe, a photo of Nathaniel Fujita, second row, third from right. Then inside, there was a picture of my murdered daughter, Lauren Dunne Astley, first row, second from left.
I respect the Globe's attempt to spotlight mental illness and its connection to crime. But I do not respect the fact that those two pictures were part of this series. A very talented and hard-working Middlesex assistant district attorney, Lisa McGovern, made the case that Fujita's behavior was the result of the rage he felt from being rejected by his girlfriend. The jury concluded that one visit to a psychiatrist is not the basis for a mental health problem, and that a "brief psychotic episode," as the defense described it, was not what motivated Fujita.
I favor examining and improving our mental health care system in Massachusetts, but I also favor truth in reporting, and I object to your team's inclusion of the Fujita case in its coverage. I do not want people thinking he was somehow wrongly accused. He was not. The prosecutor proved it, and the jury concluded that she was correct.
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