Holy shit! What do you have to do to be found legally insane in Texas?

[11 Bravo]

Andre Thomas killed his estranged wife and her two kids, ripped their hearts out, then proceeded directly to the police station where he told the cops that God told him to do it. Five days after his arrest, he plucked out one of his eyes. He was ruled competent to stand trial. Last December he plucked out his remaining eye and ate it. His trial is still pending after a Texas judge found him to be "crazy, but not legally insane".
Yeee haaw! They gonna get them another notch on the old lethal injection gurney.

[trayfoot]

1. That is truly unbelievable! I guess Texas just believes he's seeking attention.

[Zywiec]

2. Unbelievable

Now they can be added to this chart:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5287085

[Warpy]

3. The legal definition of sanity is an overly narrow one

and relies on a person's ability to tell right from wrong.

[Schema Thing]

15. Yes, but Texas has also had five women who did similar things

and were found to be insane, in the past 10 years or so.


This case reflects a combination of racism and sexism. Plus the fact that Americans like to torture and hurt mentally ill people rather than accept that they are ill.


We are a sick, savage people who are not quite civilized.

[old mark]

17. All true, but while we always have been only semi-civilized

at least we used to make the attempt to act like real people. I think we really gave that up under the rule of the fundamentalists, who believe in magic and vindictiveness.
Maybe the judge thought God really did tell that guy to kill them all....


mark

[Warpy]

19. Mental illness is seen as a moral failure too often

which is a leftover from both the church and Freud. Most people don't yet see it as brain chemistry and/or genetics.

Europe is ahead of us but not by much.

[Marrah_G]

4. ....................

:puke:

[marketcrazy1]

5. he should fry..............

!!!!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. My my, what are they teaching in catechism class these

days.... I mean, he's out of line but by how much?? :sarcasm:

[QC]

7. According to the state of Wisconsin, Jeffrey Dahmer was perfectly sane.

The legal definition of sanity has to do with whether someone is aware that his actions are wrong. It's almost impossible to be crazy enough to meet that standard.

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. Jeffrey Dahmer consistently sought to cover up his acts

which indicates understanding of their legal status.

This guy brought his family's hearts to a police station. It's another ball of wax altogether.

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. "God told him to do it." Therefore, he is sane

To say otherwise would piss off a lot of Talibangelicals.

[Believing Is Art]

9. Considering the things Bush did with the assertion "God told me to do it,"

this is pretty tame. I'm really not sure what some Texans must think about a God who tells people to kill their wife and her children, eat their eyeballs, invade Iraq . . .

[TwilightGardener]

10. Well... the dude ate his own eyeball, and now is totally blind, but does

that mean he didn't know what he was doing when he ripped out the hearts of his family members? I mean, just because the man is spectacularly gory in his methods doesn't mean he should automatically be spared the harshest sentence. If he just lined up the wife and children and shot them execution style in the head, is that somehow worse, or less crazy?

[dipsydoodle]

11. Sounds like

the eyes have it. :shrug:

[snooper2]

12. Prove god didn't tell him to do it

Jesus is one crazy mo-fo if you guys haven't figured that out yet :)

[geek_sabre]

14. "Insane" and "Legally Insane" are different things

The fact that he went straight to the police indicates that he knew what he did was wrong. Just because its gory or strange doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to be punished for his actions.

Certainly, he needs help, but he's still guilty of committing a horrible crime.

[Lyric]

20. Actually, you aren't technically right.

Going to the police indicates that he knew his actions were wrong *afterward*. It says nothing about his soundness of mind at the time that the acts were committed, which is what matters when determining legal sanity for purposes of prosecution.

[tangent90]

16. He heard Jebus was coming soon, so he decided to keep an eye out for Him.

:silly:
Twice.

[surrealAmerican]

18. Perhaps they need to question god about this case.

If he really did tell this man to do this, god himself could get the death penalty in Texas.

[foxfeet]

21. It's probably more likely if you're from Oklahoma. . .

I'm just sayin'.

[DS1]

22. Who cares?

Let him fry

[Ilsa]

23. Most days I hate living here and wish we could leave.

Maybe we will in a few years. I've lived in Tx all my life, and there is no real justice here. I saw the Tx bankers screw everyone over in the '80's and very few of the did time or even paid fines.

[HelenWheels]

24. Read "Tulia"

It's a true story of just how corrupt the legal system of Texas is. It tells of how one corrupt undercover cop with assistance of a corrupt DA and judge railroaded about 20 young people on drug charges. Most of those arrested were minorities. One man was given a sentence of 333 years for supposedly buying an 8 ball. It took a legal team from out of state to get justice done. It's a very engrossing tale. I have a recorded book of it and the reader is superb.

[11 Bravo]

25. Thanks for the tip.

I stopped at the library on the way home (it's checked out, but will be held for me when it's returned). I'm looking forward to reading it.

[blogslut]

26. Slight correction

It took a local farmer to get the justice ball rolling and a local civil rights lawyer to get the ACLU to pay attention.