Dr. Stutterman: Shock & dismay at what happened, followed by expressions of sympathy, followed (hopefully) by his license being revoked for life.
Mr. and Mrs. Atherton: Shock & dismay at the prospect of their daughter being sentenced to prison for life, or at being sent to the electric chair/gas chamber. They get the best lawyers, but all of the past of Rowena comes out, and Mr. Atherton himself also faces a trial and prison (hopefully) for his sexual abuse of his daughter (he might fight it off with those same lawyers). Rowena goes to prison for life, or is executed, or goes to the state hospital for the criminally insane (due to the same lawyers).
Mr. and Mrs. West: 'We didn't know! Honestly, we didn't know!' They say this as a national media *beep* breaks over their heads.
Bill the estranged husband and father: Of course he cares now, and acts the grieved father now, but where was he when his daughter needed him? Off in Mexico fooling around like a douchebag.
Maria the housekeeper: Something kinda like what happened to the housekeeper of O.J. Simpson happens to her in the media (maybe).
Dr. Huglerson: Same as Dr. Stutterman, hopefully.
Dr. Buccari: She becomes after death what she couldn't be for Mary Jane in life: an avenging angel who pushes for the prosecution of the father, a very invasive investigation and commission into what happened, the go-to gal for eyewitness insights/interviews into child abuse/the death of Mary Jane-let's face it, the media eats up what she has to say, and things change!
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NewYorkGrove
15 years ago
you gave a TOUCHING and well thought out answer I just wish there was NO NEED for such a topic :(
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HarlowMGM
14 years ago
I doubt very much the mother would have gotten life in prison and certainly not have been sentenced to death. I haven't seen this movie in some 30 years but I remember she was clearly an unwell woman throughout the movie and if I'm not mistaken the movie ended with her rocking her dead daughter, completely unaware she was dead, indicating she was now fully insane. She would have been sent to a mental institution for several years and perhaps released years later if she had made a recovery.
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Daverat
10 years ago
Maybe 20 years ago but most states have gutted the insanity plea. She'd get Life in prison in most states, possibly DEATH in Florida or Texas, the Andrea Yates case not withstanding . Andrea Yates got a new trial (and rightly so) because of a misstatement by a psychiatrist on the stand that implied she got the idea from Law & Order. If no such situation existed in Rowena's trial, she'd get the blue juice.
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FireMinstrel
9 years ago
Roweena's father wouldn't be tried. There's a statute of limitations for that kind of thing, unfortunately. Absolutely nothing would happen to him in the legal sense. Hopefully he'd be eviscerated in the court of public opinion, though. All his associates would instantly distance themselves from him. No more country club membership. And honestly, for a shallow couple like that, alienation is a fate worse than death, so fine with me.
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