dan (06/23/82)
RE: hinckley not guilty Two of the jurors stated to the media that they truly felt that hinckley was guilty and not insane, but they wanted to go home and were swayed by the other jurors, so they agreed to the not guilty verdict. At least one other juror stated that s/he could not understand the poetry that hinckley wrote. Well there are one helluva lot of poems floating around out there that are not understandable; are those authors insane? Is Shakespeare insane? Is Allan Ginsberg insane? hinckley's parents and (I'm sure well-paid) lawyers claim that they will not seek his release until he is deemed harmless. I know what will make him harmless...a lobotomy...via Smith&Wesson... WHERE IS JACK RUBY WHEN HE'S NEEDED? Pardon my flame. The lower-case f is intended as a sign of disrespect. Dan O'Connell
dan (06/23/82)
RE: hinckley not guilty (typo corrected) Two of the jurors stated to the media that they truly felt that hinckley was guilty and not insane, but they wanted to go home and were swayed by the other jurors, so they agreed to the not guilty verdict. At least one other juror stated that s/he could not understand the poetry that hinckley wrote. Well there are one helluva lot of poems floating around out there that are not understandable; are those authors insane? Is Shakespeare insane? Is Allan Ginsberg insane? hinckley's parents and (I'm sure well-paid) lawyers claim that they will not seek his release until he is deemed harmless. I know what will make him harmless...a lobotomy...via Smith&Wesson... WHERE IS JACK RUBY WHEN HE'S NEEDED? Pardon my flame. The lower-case h is intended as a sign of disrespect. Dan O'Connell
jcwinterton (06/29/82)
Well, the hinckley verdict is yet another instance of the marvellous, complex, stupid adversary court system the U.S. has, loves and deserves. There would not likely have been a trial here in Canada at all where all participants, including defence and crown counsel are officers of the court and not just hired hax. In the preliminaries, if in Canada, hinckley would have been committed to the looney bin and that would have been the end of it. A lot less anguish for all concerned and unconcerned. John Winterton.
pcmcgeer (06/29/82)
C'mon, John. In the first place, the Crown Prosecutor and the defense attorney are hired hacks, even though the C.P.'s a salaried government employee (roughly equivalent to someone working in the DA's office in the States). As for the defense attorney, except in a Public Defense case, he's a hired gun pure and simple. I doubt very much that Hinckley would have been acquitted in a Canadian preliminary hearing [ For the majority of you on the net, this is a hearing in which a judge determines whether or not there is sufficient evidence against an accused to permit the case to go to trial. It's received a lot of publicity in Canada recently since a nurse at a Toronto hospital was acquitted of a murder charge at one.]. More likely, the judge would have decided there was sufficient evidence to send the man to trial - and, I think, here he would have been convicted. In any case, our system and the American one are not dissimilar. The principle difference is that access to the courts is easier in the States; a secondary (minor) difference is the absence of a preliminary hearing in most (all?) US jurisdictions. A final difference is that defendants can select trial by judge and jury or by judge alone - which, if you've ever been summonsed for jury duty, is a pleasant thought. However, the system here is just as adversarial. I wouldn't have it any other way - my best defense of freedom in a court is an open, adversarial proceeding.
wagner (06/30/82)
I found it humourous to note that Hinckley himself expressed surprise at being let off (humourous in a grim way only - no flames) Michael Wagner
mem (07/10/82)
c An old topic... isn't it? The question is: do we want a) revenge b) resolution of (for) the problem. if a) (as is proper in a number of instances), let's shoot him in the ribs. if b) are we getting mad at the verdic, or at our inability to deal with psychological problems until they show themselves in such extreme ways? (Don't ask me, I don't know!) Did ya ever know a schizophrenic person? Come on.. i bet you all have. A schizo is someone who doesn't react the same way at all times (excuse me for being crude). Ever know anyone that lost his temper? have you ever reacted angrily to something and WHILE ACTING stupidly regret the action yet do it anyway? (am I admitting psychosis?) No... I'm not going to answer. Please understand that mental disorders are real, psychiatists really try to help disorders even if some of youse were misdiagnosed as youngsters. If this is confusing, read it again.
laura (07/11/82)
another thing to consider is the deterant value of 'shooting him in the ribs'. I believe that there are a number of people who would be less likely to commit 'insane acts' if they were certain that it would lead to their death. Whether this applies to people who are as far-gone as Hinckley appears to be, is another question... laura creighton decvax!utzoo!laura