Quote: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?

 

That's a lot of words, but it seems that you agree with me. "What were Holmes' motives? Who cares." So you can't ascribe a motive to his actions, but he was sane? He brought only pain and misery to himself, but he was sane? Dance as much as you like - what, he had "depression"? - you can't make the case for sanity.

 

No, I don't expect you to change your mind, even though you seem to agree. I understand the societal pressures to be tough and cool. I mean, what would your buddies think? They might think you're getting soft.

 

And if you don't think the Sandy Hook shooter wasn't insane perhaps you need the help of a mental health care professional.

 

Oh, and I love that - "he'll be treated for whatever mental illness he may have while in prison" - hahahahaha. Good one.

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