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James Holmes declared guilty: insanity not found
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What do you think should happen in this case? Death or life in prison? Do you think he should have been deemed insane instead? |
He committed an atrocious crime and deserves the justice he will get. Death row is an inarguable burden on the taxpayers and many men sit on death row that have long been sentenced. If he's allowed anywhere near gen pop in prison, he's a goner anyway. But I guess we'll see. I'm glad he's going away.
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Let him go to prison. He'll die much faster there.
I think the real problem, though, is that it took 3 years to get to this point. |
I read somewhere that insanity defences are neither common nor successful (most of the time). I do wonder what he had going on though, because there must have been some bumps on his road to lead him to where he is today. He might not be legally insane, but something tells me he had other mental illnesses that, given his personal situation, took him to extreme levels of violence.
I don't know if he can avoid death though, just judging from the severity of his crimes. I think there is a very strong urge to give him death, other mental illnesses notwithstanding. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do though. He seems really really lost. One thing though: I think we should point out that the word "insane" doesn't have any real meaning. It's not a psychiatric diagnosis, and therefore there's no set of criteria you could point to that determine whether one is insane. I'm actually curious what criteria a jury would use to determine whether someone is "legally insane", although my hunch is that insanity is anyone whose mental health situation sways the jury - basically no clear criteria at all. Quote:
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Though I don't know if a medical analysis alone automatically defines whether someone is 'legally insane' or if the analysis has to be 'voted in' by the jury. |
I think the jury determines guilt, so even if they hear the details of someone's psychiatric analysis, regardless of the outcome, it's still their choice whether to find them culpable or not.
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I disagree. Patience is a virtue. Just because they're taking their time doesn't mean that the process is corrupt. What if the information the jury needs to process is that extensive and needs a lot of time to explain to the court? What if there are legitimate arguments and counterarguments that don't make it an open-and-shut case? Trying to tease out the effects of mental illness on culpability is a pretty hard question.
http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m438pgC4Ls1r017k2.gif Anyways, the trial didn't take too long. A lot of the delay is in selecting a jury (which as you can imagine can be mighty difficult, especially considering the situation of the case at hand), as well as in the psychiatric examinations. The prosecution also need to decide what kind of charges they're going to push for and strategy. Big trials get a lot of attention from everybody, including the public as well as the lawyers involved, meaning it's ever more important that nothing is rushed. Also, since the prosecution plans to give Holmes death, you can imagine that the defence would do everything in their power to fight against it. |
I think I read that the defense team in this trial was intentionally trying to draw the proceedings out, probably to get some distance from the events so that they weren't as fresh in people's minds. But, really, in a case like this there's not much room for discussing what happened and who did what, just what the appropriate response/punishment should be.
I'm also okay with it taking as long as it did. Maybe in this case it was just stalling, but there are plenty of other cases where you really want to take your time. You don't want to railroad someone, as has been done too many times to count. I also think it's important to remember the people who were killed and injured, rather than the killers. So here are the names of those people: Jonathan Blunk Alexander J. Boik Jesse Childress Gordon Cowden Jessica Ghawi John Larimer Matt McQuinn Micayla Medek Veronica Moser-Sullivan Alex Sullivan Alexander C. Teves Rebecca Wingo Also, Ashley Moser (mother of Veronica, who was 6) who survived as is now quadriplegic. Caleb Medley who suffered serious brain damage. I hope that these survivors, their families, and the families of all the victims can take some solace and find a way to keep moving forward. |
'bout fucking time.
I mean, it's been, what...three years now? If he's going on death row, I got a good solution that will save taxpayers dollars: - Let him into general population in prison Nature will handle the rest. |
I say...
FINISH HIM! ... and the best way to do that is by life in prison(dem prisoners will handle it, assuming the authorities don't give him special treatment). Death Row is a load of BS. I'd be for the death penalty in this case if it was quick and cheap but it's the exact opposite. |
I wonder what it says about us if we're suggesting we allow him to be killed by other prisoners.
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I'm going to say life. To me, he doesn't seem "evil" enough to deserve death. I feel that his mental illness, and the delusions and urges coming from it, muddle up what intent he had in killing those people. If you read about his psychiatric report, apparently he wanted to kill people to gain their "life points" which would make his own life more valuable and actually mean something. It's just really off the wall and chaotic which makes me feel that he isn't entirely "here" with us in reality which therefore does not justify death. I feel that the death penalty should be given to the worst of the worst, especially because it's an example of the state taking away one's right to life (which is the most fundamental of all human rights and therefore should be the one violated most cautiously), but that Holmes' being out-of-touch with reality is a mitigating factor that makes death inappropriate.
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Whatever.
All I'm going to say further is if someone or something kills this guy, I'm not shedding a tear. |
killing hims not the answer, nor is sending him to prison. their both easy ways out.death would be quick and painless & prison... there are reasons why people who get out of prison often want to go back. humans can adjust to any lifestyle and any environment. what we need is an acupuncture specialist that can hit the most painful nerves without killing him.
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as for the food thing, its not that hard to dull your taste bubs & get over the disgust. i honestly wouldn't be surprised if this guy was eating bugs before he got locked up, he set up preparations before he even committed the crime |
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I want to take this time to voice my thoughts on the whole "insanity plea" thing in general.
I don't really like it being used, especially in this case. If you want to defend the idea of "insanity" being a way to reduce a sentence, then be prepared to make the case that there are sane people out there who, after much deliberation and reflection, decided it was a good idea to abuse a right (possession of firearms-and by extension giving gun owners in general a bad name), go out and shoot up a theater/school/etc. You will find there isn't a single sane person who would do this, because as far as I'm concerned, doing what he did isn't "sane" by any definition of the word, no matter how much mental gymnastics you want to spin. The point I'm trying to make is "insanity" is a bullshit defense in cases like this because if he were sane, he wouldn't be where he is right now. |
But, for the purposes of the court, he was sane. So, according to the jury, he is one of at least one sane person who would commit mass murder at a cinema. Pleading insanity allows one to be removed from guilt altogether, but that was not the case for Holmes.
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