For anyone wondering what Chris may potentially be facing in terms of sentencing, permit me to draw your attention to the following:
Man gets 12 life sentences for rape of 9 year old
That trial also took place recently in Greene County. We can debate the difference between rape involving a 9-year-old girl and rape involving a dementia-ridden 80-year-old woman all we want, but the reality is that they're both acts that are far, far beyond being merely reprehensible. This also means that any jury drawn from that part of the world is not likely to recommend a light sentence for incestuous rape, and it's doubtful that a judge would disagree with the jury's recommendations.
According to Chris, it was multiple times, so I think any chance of a light sentence is out the window, there's also a few more charges that could be tacked on and Chris is functional enough with people that the Jury could end up finding him to be a giant piece of shit. It's why members of juries are often asked not to look up the defendant, they could find stories/evidence of crimes outside of what they're being tried for which could muddy the trial.
Dementia or not, raping Barb is clearly elder abuse. That would almost certainly enhance the charges against him.
Here's what I expect will happen:
Heilberg: "My client's just a poor autistic transwoman struggling against the might of the Internet attempting to keep her down, down in a world of pain and despair and unhappiness. That's why s/he had to fuck her mom."
Jury: "Lol no mofo's going to lots and lots of prison"
He knows damn well that what he did was wrong, much like in all of the other legal escapades he's been through. The Tism won't save him this time, because the jury (or judge, if opts for the bench) is so unbelievably likely to see through that argument and cut directly to the chase of, 'so you raped your own mother.' Hell, he even makes a point of describing himself as high-functioning over the years, which severely weakens the ability of the defense to claim diminished capacity.
Dementia or not, you can point out three crimes in the matter of Chris raping Barb. You've got rape, incest, and elderly abuse. Multiple counts of it in statements made by Chris. Chris' lawyer would be dumb to go that route though, since any lawyer worth his lick of salt would just point out that Chris has never taken any advice that would have been helpful for him and bettered him as a person. He only did the things that got him what he wanted when he wanted it, to Hell with everybody else. It's a toxic mindset that any prosecutor could use to make anybody look like a giant piece of shit.
A lot of people seem to think that Chris himself got lucky, and don't realize he's never committed a bad enough crime. The only one he could have gotten in serious trouble for, Synder asked the Judge to be lenient. That wasn't the 'Tism that saved him, it was Synder being an upstanding person and not wanting a stupid decision to potentially ruin somebodies life.
Here's the thing: while I don't necessarily disagree with you, Chris' hatred of anything that casts aspersions on either his sanity or mental capacity could very well sink that in court. If sequestering him in a tardhouse for the rest of his natural life was on the cards, I could very well see him completely melting down in court. Hell, even just sending him for a court-ordered evaluation could cause the same thing - and that could potentially be viewed as contempt.
Shit - just imagine what would happen if anyone in court were to describe him as being naïve. He'd go ballistard.
Maybe. Again, I see the point you're driving at, but there's enough in Chris' own actions to show that he planned this out. Diminished capacity is going to be difficult to argue with the sheer number of real-world activities and interactions he took part in on a regular basis.
I wouldn't be surprised if the prosecutor tried to subtly push Chris into his tard rage by questioning his sanity or mental capacity, a good outburst could sink Heilbergs entire argument and make any attempt at salvaging Chris nearly impossible. This guy took the wrong case because it's going to be nothing but a headache for him. Not only did Chris plan this out, but scuttlebutt says him and Barb were greatly exaggerating how bad Barb was for pity, and one of his neighbors on a facebook post said was a lot more intelligent than he let on. For everything that this case is worth, Heilberg is going to have a hard time trying to argue anything other than "Chris was a retard whose shit attitude and no desire to be a better person and to treat people kindly resulted in him not having anybody to have a mutual relationship which sadly resulted in Chris getting this idea that banging his own mother despite her wishes and pain was the only solution to his problem." A plea deal is the only thing that will save Chris from his life being completely destroyed, but lets just face it. You don't need sex, it's not important to live, it's simply fun to have and lets your family legacy move on. Plenty of people go their entire lives being a virgin and don't rape their own mothers.
The only way I really see him getting out of it, though, is if it turns out he's not charged with rape, or they plead him out to something less than incest, or at best, only convict him of the misdemeanor version of the crime. I'm pretty sure the next hearing on September 16 is when they'll add more charges if they're going to do that.
I'm also interested in whether it will start to sink in to that thick skull that this is actually serious. He's never spent this length of time in captivity and for the first time in his life, won't be able to just do as he wishes for an extended period of time.
I think he may be a more subdued Chris, but I'd really rather he tard rage to the point the jury and/or judge hate his guts enough to throw the book at him.
Optimistic at best, it's going to be hard to argue not charging him with rape and or incest. You can't sugarcoat his crimes, and don't want to send somebody like Chris back out into the world with everybody knowing that he puts his own needs before others and is 100% fine with hurting others to sate his own desires. There also isn't a misdemeanor for his crime. Mother/father/son/daughter/grandkid is a class 5 felony. If Barb is found to be just as guilty in this as Chris is, she could be charged with a class 3 felony. Misdemeanor incest is basically brother/sister/cousin, generally anybody whose relationship is not that of a parental figure.