Shop

In August 2005, Esmie Tseng was arrested for the stabbing death of her mother. Due to evidence at the scene indicating that the crime may have occurred in multiple sections of the house the 16-year-old Esmie lived in with her parents, the Johnson County, Kansas prosecutor tried Esmie as an adult. The local community's outpouring of compassion for Esmie as "a good girl who had snapped under pressure from her harsh parents" is only part of the story as the writer delves into Esmie's unhappy life, her diaries at Livejournal.com and Xanga.com and her "use of illegal drugs such as ecstacy (which) might have contributed to Esmie's faltering mental stability in the days leading up to her mother's murder." Esmie Tsang is now serving eight years after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter.