Honk! Honk!
February 25th 2007 00:29
Knife-murderers are iconic monsters to modern horror film fanatics, but a large part of their scare factor is that unlike Aliens and Predators and Vast Ancient All-Powerful Yet Completely Unknown Cult/Conspiracies, knife-murderers actually exist.
Carol Lynn Pappas was tried for stabbing her infant grand-child to death- possibly even after death; there were multiple stab wounds on the baby. As horrible as murder tends to be (In real life the suspects and victims alike tend not to be as pretty as on CSI) to be killed by a relative, a caregiver seems like one of the worst betrayals possible.
Granny Hack'n'Stab got off with "Not guilty by reason of insanity." Like our President, she isn't a bad person, she's merely the victim herself of bad advice: Part of her insanity defense was based on her getting spiritual advice from geese. Not from ducks (Who are at least qualified to offer insurance advice), not from Foghorn Leghorn or the wise old owl or even Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law... from geese.
So yes- one could make a case that if she gets spiritual advice from airborne Christmas dinners she may well be clinically cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. My beef is this whole idea that people aren't guilty because yes, they did the deed, but they have so much damage to their wetware that they're a threat to themselves and others.
Okay, so send them to a hospital- even psychiatrists need a good laugh now and then. But for Justice's sake make the verdict "Guilty by reason of being too fucked up in the head to be allowed to roam free." When they're found not guilty and sent to a rehab resort it becomes too easy for people to sympathize with the killers.
The victim deserves better, even if they were killed by someone nuttier than Freddy Krueger on his best day.
Carol Lynn Pappas was tried for stabbing her infant grand-child to death- possibly even after death; there were multiple stab wounds on the baby. As horrible as murder tends to be (In real life the suspects and victims alike tend not to be as pretty as on CSI) to be killed by a relative, a caregiver seems like one of the worst betrayals possible.
Granny Hack'n'Stab got off with "Not guilty by reason of insanity." Like our President, she isn't a bad person, she's merely the victim herself of bad advice: Part of her insanity defense was based on her getting spiritual advice from geese. Not from ducks (Who are at least qualified to offer insurance advice), not from Foghorn Leghorn or the wise old owl or even Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law... from geese.
So yes- one could make a case that if she gets spiritual advice from airborne Christmas dinners she may well be clinically cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. My beef is this whole idea that people aren't guilty because yes, they did the deed, but they have so much damage to their wetware that they're a threat to themselves and others.
Okay, so send them to a hospital- even psychiatrists need a good laugh now and then. But for Justice's sake make the verdict "Guilty by reason of being too fucked up in the head to be allowed to roam free." When they're found not guilty and sent to a rehab resort it becomes too easy for people to sympathize with the killers.
The victim deserves better, even if they were killed by someone nuttier than Freddy Krueger on his best day.
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Comment by MelissaA
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