A judge ordered Lorena Bobbitt released from a mental hospital Monday, five weeks after her acquittal on reason of insanity for cutting off her husband's penis. He ordered her to get therapy.
Judge Herman A. Whisenant Jr. agreed with a psychiatric report that Bobbitt poses no threat to herself or others.Bobbitt smiled at the end of the 25-minute hearing.
"Someday I would like to have children. . . . Someday I will have my American dream again," she told reporters as she left the courthouse.
Whisenant ordered that Bobbitt receive mental health treatment with a private therapist and requested regular updates on her progress.
The judge followed recommendations from a state-appointed psychiatrist and psychologist who evaluated Bobbitt at Central State Hospital. She was sent there immediately after the Jan. 21 verdict in the attack on her husband, John, last June.
Whisenant also said she could not leave Virginia without permission of the court and the local community service board that will supervise her rehabilitation.
Lorena Bobbitt, a native of Ecuador, had expressed interest in visiting her parents in South America. She had testified at her trial that she had come to this country seeking the American dream of marriage and family.
Prosecutor Paul B. Ebert, whose office unsuccessfully prosecuted both Bobbitts, said Lorena Bobbitt could remain under control of the court indefinitely.
"I think the court, at least initially, ought to have complete control over her," Ebert said.
"We have people who stay under the jurisdiction of the court most of their lives," he said.
Defense attorney Blair Howard said the doctors found that Lorena Bobbitt was no longer suffering from the conditions that prompted the attack,