Gypsy Blanchard, the 27-year-old woman who previously pleaded guilty to helping kill her mother Dee Dee Blanchard, is set to testify on Thursday morning.
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Prosecutors say she got her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn to fatally stab the victim in the early morning of June 10, 2015. Even the defense says this happened. The dispute in this trial is over whether their client is mentally capable of first-degree murder. Attorney Andrew Mead promised that jurors will see testimony showing that Godejohn is on the autism spectrum, and has a low IQ. Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Chapman said, however, that Gypsy first brought up the murder plot in May 2014, giving the defendant over a year to deliberate on the crime.
Gypsy previously told media outlets that her mother forced her to feign serious illnesses to cheat charities out of money. This went as far as to have her fake leukemia, and stay in a wheelchair. In an interview with 20/20, she said she always knew she could actually walk, but claimed to believe her mother’s insistence she had cancer. The younger Blanchard said her mother became physically abusive, withheld food after arguments, and chained her to a bed after a failed attempt to runaway. She told Dr. Phil that she became “desperate” and “bounced around the idea” of killing her mother with Godejohn.
Chapman said the defendant, using a knife given to him by Gypsy, straddled Dee Dee while she was sleeping on her stomach, and fatally stabbed her.
Previous testimony in the trial established the timeline of the murder. Jurors saw pictures of the murder scene, the weapon, and money that Gypsy allegedly stole from her mother’s safe. Confession footage showed Godejohn telling a detective he killed Blanchard.
[Screengrab via Law&Crime]