LafayetteLady
Posts: 7683
Joined: 5/2/2007 From: Northern New Jersey Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: erieangel The child killer, is without a doubt insane, but insanity does not always equate to being a mentally ill. Ummmm....yes it does. quote:
Regardless, if he is ever tried, that might be held up due to him not being sane enough to stand trial, he will most likely spend the rest of his life in prison. You do realize if someone is not competant to stand trial, they CAN NOT get to the sentencing phase that follows a trial and puts them in prison. quote:
Even in PA or some other state other than NY, it is virtually impossible to execute the mentally ill. Though it does happen, advocacy groups like NAMI will be all this thing to keep him alive based on the assumption that he did not understand he was doing anything wrong. I tend to have mixed thoughts on that. He did hide the body, implying a level of knowledge of right and wrong. He also led the police straight to the body, implying either remorse or a disconnect in the knowledge that he had done anything at all wrong or even remotely unusual. NAMI can write Amicus briefs to be used in appeals (although they aren't likely to be given as much consideration as you seem to think), they can even pay for a private (as in one of their attorneys) to represent the person on appeal. However, this is typically used for people that are mentally challenged, as in those with IQs' of small children. By the time they reach the appeal stage, the time for the "assumption that he did not understand he was doing anything wrong" has long since past. That is determined should there be a hearing to determine competency to stand trial. quote:
I'm not sure if anybody remembers the Brian Wells neck bomber case. That case occurred right in my city. I knew the woman who was at the center of it, and the only person to eventually go to jail because of it. Marge Deihl was insane by any definition. However, it took several years to get her "sanity" tested, get her into court ordered treatment and finally hold her trial. And that wasn't even the first murder she'd committed. She had shot a boyfriend in the early '80s, spent several years in the PA woman's prison for that. Then a year or two before Brian Wells was killed, her husband died under mysterious circumstances and authorities actually think she did it but she will never be charged with that murder. And they think she may have been involved in at least 2 other murders. Marge Diehl doesn't deserve to draw another breath, but she will live because it is nearly impossible to execute her. Well, you knowing her doesn't really speak very well of you. But I am quite confused how if you actually "knew" her, you could have gotten so many of the facts wrong about the case. First it was not a capital murder case. While I don't know why the prosecution did not try her for capital murder, it was not an option. In the Brian Wells case, she wasn't even charged with the murder itself, but rather as a conspirator and a couple of other things, none of them murder. She was convicted of the murder of her boyfriend, and her plea was "guilty but mentally ill." If you read the link I posted earlier, you would see, such a plea doesn't take the death penalty off the table. Brian Wells Murder She will live because she was sentenced to life in prison, not because anyone is keeping her alive. Incidentally since she was charged at the age of 61, I doubt it will amount to 30 years in prison. Even when guilt is not in doubt, capital cases take quite a while to prepare for trial and sentencing. Look at the Casey Anthony trial as an example. Psychological experts are not going to testify after talking to the defendant just one or two times for a couple of hours and testify about that person's mental capacity. It takes hours and hours for each side's experts to interview and examine the defendant to determine Levi Aron will undoubtedly stand trial for the murder, and I predict that while an insanity plea may be used as a defense, it won't exonerate him of the crime. His actions were very strange, and he definately has some type of mental illness (there is currently talk of schizophrenia), but that alone does not add up to an insanity defense, regardless of how you reached your (very inaccurate) conclusions.
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