The Colorado prosecutor seeking to jump start a political
career with a death penalty conviction in the Aurora theater massacre
inadvertently has shown the killer met one of the standards for legal
insanity.
Despite a headline in the Denver Post emphasizing that James
Holmes knew right from wrong, that isn’t the only test for legal insanity.
“The policeman at the elbow” also has qualified defendants
for an insanity defense. In other words, if a defendant is so mentally ill that
he/she would commit the crime with a policeman watching then it was
irresistible.
Prosecutor George Brauchler has presented evidence day after
day showing that Holmes was careful in his planning.
He went too far when he introduced evidence showing that the
killer knew police and even the FBI were watching. He had, after all, scared
his psychiatrist so much she reported him to police.”
The page after page in his notebook stating “why, why, why
…” might be well asked to Brauchler.
Why not accept the defense plea of insanity and avoid
forcing survivors, relatives of victims and the whole nation to go through a
show that is reaching “War and Peace” length.
Perhaps jurors can “binge” on 222 hours of video testimony
from just one psychiatrist.
The
Post reported: "Did
you hope they had you under surveillance?" psychiatrist Dr. William Reid
asked James Holmes about the vehicle, during one of their many interviews.
"Yeah, a little
bit," Holmes replied.
Reid asked why. "So
they could do the right thing."
"Do the right thing,
meaning?" Reid asked again. "Lock me away before I did it,"
Holmes replied.
Though a gag order from a
judge who relentlessly approved almost every prosecutor request prevents
publication of comments or statements of defense plans it does not take a legal
scholar to venture that will argue he went ahead with the killings, knowing it
was wrong, because he could not stop himself.
Holmes killed 12 people and
wounded 70 in his attack during a premiere of the Batman movie, “Dark Knight
Rising.”
He even planned to sabotage
investigators when he searched their house but showed he was conflicted when he
warned them before they went.
Perhaps the most vexing
question is why police did stop Holmes after being warned by his psychiatrist.
In case after case of gun massacres in the U.S., including Columbine in
Colorado, law enforcement was warned something evil was in the offing.
Columbine parents personally warned deputies to no avail.
Perhaps it is a "Catch 22," if you think you are insane you cannot be.
Perhaps it is a "Catch 22," if you think you are insane you cannot be.
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