Quote:Case closed? Thank you, Perry Mason (TJBender)

 

Perhaps he did it because he was insane.

 

Or do you have a greater insight?

First off, thank you. I pride myself on my investigative abilities, and my history of cracking every case I've ever been placed on, even when others had failed.

 

Second, having a mental illness does not make you insane. There are millions of Americans out there fighting depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other diseases who live a perfectly normal, healthy life. As far as the criminal justice system is involved, you are insane when you don't understand the difference between right and wrong. I think that's fair, otherwise we'd be letting murderers off the hook left and right just because they have a history of mental illness. What were Holmes' motives? Who cares. He was in control of his own actions, he knew what he was doing and he knew that it was wrong. Legally speaking, he is guilty of mass murder, and deserves whatever sentence he gets. He will be treated for whatever mental illnesses he may have while in prison, and that's all that a verdict of guilty but mentally ill (he didn't even get the "but mentally ill" part) calls for.

 

Would you justify the actions of the Charleston shooter, the Sandy Hook shooter or the 9/11 hijackers the same way? I mean, clearly no one sane would crash a 767 into a building, right?

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