Life Sentence For Colorado Shooter

People who are against this, think that this plea is an tactic the lawyers use to get their clients less time in jail, or inclusively get them into a better place such as a mental hospital. I understand that they think this way because there has been cases where it has been done with those intentions. However, we need to understand that psychiatrists knowledge is not the same, it is more advanced. In addition, we need to know that lawyers will not determine if the person was insane, but only claim him to be. It is all up to the psychiatrists who will examine the accused who will undergo many test that will determine him insane in the time of the crime scene. Fersh, the author of “Thinking of the Insanity Defense” stated in his book that, “ The American Psychological Association is primarily interested in providing empirical research to serve as a basis for informed public decisions, assisting the judge and jury in making legal, scientific and moral determinations, and ensuring appropriate treatment for mentally impaired offenders. The APA supports the insanity defense and believes that all mentally impaired defendants, regardless of guilt or innocence, deserve sufficient treatment following the verdict, especially if they pose a threat to themselves or others. The organization is greatly concerned over the issue of releasing dangerous individuals to society after inadequate treatment and would like to provide

During the time of the shooting, Holmes was using two psychiatric drugs. It is stated in the book that “Drugs distort individual’s thoughts, which enhances irrational

In the month of January 1992, Judge Laurence Gram Jr. was presiding over the Milwaukee County Circuit Court at the beginning of Jeffrey Dahmer’s trial. Defense Attorney Gerald Boyle represented the defendant Jeffrey Dahmer whilst District Attorney E. Michael McCann spoke for the state of Wisconsin. Dahmer was charged with murdering fifteen individuals. During the initial part of the court proceedings, Dahmer’s defense claimed that he was clinically insane. In due course, the jury had to decide whether this insanity claim was factual or not: Was Jeffrey Dahmer certifiably insane? Did his admission of guilt founded on mental illness stand up in court or was he sane and guilty? Was he or was he not in control of himself when he murdered fifteen

He picked a highly intense part of the movie to perform his attack, which was filled with gun shots and explosions to blend the sound. This could only have been done by Holmes studying the film and deciding when he was going to attack. The second set of first degree charges involved murder with malice aforethought. Malice refers to acts obtained through evil or indifference towards human life. This is demonstrated by him single-handedly inflicting a massacre of innocent and defenseless spectators. The counts of second degree murders were represented in two different circumstances. The first was his attempt to murder to all of the moviegoers that he wounded in his shooting rampage. The second demonstration was in reference to his apartment, in which he lined with enough explosives to bring down the entire building. This is also where his charge of possession of illegal explosives is represented.

The court held the psychologist responsible for the murder of his girlfriend and for not informing of the intent to harm. I believe Justice Tobriner said it best, “the protective privilege ends where the public peril begins.”

June 19, 1975, began a killing spree in Colorado Springs when a soldier from Ft.Carson and his friend who worked on base shot a cook in the head. He only had fifty cents. The next week they stabbed a Fort Carson soldier with a bayonet. On July 1, 1975, they killed Kelsey Grammer’s sister. After raping her, they stabbed her throat and left her out in a trailer park to die. That night they went to Fort Carson and called a cab from a club. That pick up would be Dad’s last. Knowing he was in trouble, Dad called dispatch to ask the distance and the fare to Butts Field, a strange request for a seasoned cabbie on such a small military base. All the fares were thirty five cents except the one to their airport. One of the guys grabbed my dad and slashed his throat from ear to ear, leaving him for dead on the side of the road. They drove the cab through the housing area, across one of its inhabitants front lawns. He had driven a taxi in New York and had his money taken before, but never harmed. Mom laughed hysterically when she told me that even with witnesses, their attorney argued it was too dark to adequately identify them.The local police investigated Karen’s murder, but my dad’s killing had taken place on a military base, putting the federal agents in charge. The murderers were given the death sentence for Karen and the other murders, so the feds decided not to investigate my dad’s case.

In Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith commit a murder of all four Clutter family members with no apparent motive. They go all over the United States running from the authorities, while also passing bad checks. They are later caught in Las Vegas and sentenced to death row by a jury comprised of family men that were associated with the Clutter’s. Many years go by before they are hung on April 14, 1965. Considering that Perry Smith had many mental problems that most likely have developed from his early childhood, he should be tried with his disorders in mind and given psychiatric care.

The insanity defense has become popularized by criminal television shows, but it is not used as portrayed. According to Dr. Zachary Torry, a psychiatrist, the defense is actually used in one percent of cases and not even one-fourth of those cases will succeed in front of a jury (Torry). Furthermore, the legal definition of insanity is very different than the societal definition. As stated by George Blau, a criminal defense lawyer, “insane” does not describe someone who is psychotic or crazy, but it instead describes someone who does not know the difference between right or wrong. They are found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) because one of the three traits of a crime is not evident. The three traits are a guilty mind (mens rea), a prohibited act, and a pre-established sentence (Blau). For the insane, there is no mens rea because someone cannot feel guilty for an act that they do not know is wrong. Therefore, those found NGRI have a different punishment than those convicted of a crime. Their sentence is often time at a mental institution where treatment is available, but the sentences can be irregular and unchecked by government associations. Therefore, the insanity defense may need to be amended, by requiring monitoring of the cases and adopting the mens rea approach or to be completely abolished because of its potential improper use and a lack of proof.

James Eagan Holmes, a 26 year old male from San Diego California, is the accused perpetrator of a mass shooting that killed 12 and murdered 70 people at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20, 2012 during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises (Wikipedia, n.d.) On March 12, 2013, a Colorado judge entered a plea of not guilty when Holmes’s attorney

On July 20, 2012 James Holmes enter a theater in Aurora Colorado and shot and killed 12 people. Attorneys tested Holmes and called for a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist stated that Holmes was so crazy that he could not distinguish what’s right and what’s wrong during the period he committed the crime. Dr Jonathan Woodcock interviewed Holmes during the time he was in jail on July 24 just four days after the shooting occurred for two hours duration. Holmes’s testimony drew questions from prosecutors that doubted his analyzation of Holmes being severe delusional during the mass shooting. Doctor claimed that they found Holmes suffering from severe mental illness and because of that it made him act violently. Holmes thought that if he snitch and went on and told the public of attempting to kill strangers he would be obligated to pay for the consequences. Doctors testified that one of Holmes delusion was to go out and do what he had to do. Woodcock was a witness by the defense to purpose the idea that Holmes was indeed crazy the moment he shot and killed people dead. Before the shooting occurred Holmes had already symptoms of mental illness disorder which made him anxious and stress and committed the crime.

On July 20, 2012, a major tragedy happened in Aurora Colorado during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. James Holmes willingly without showing no remorse entered the movie theater Century 16 at Town Center. He was resembling the Joker with red hair wearing a gas mask and body armor murdering 12 people and wounding 70 people. A jury found Holmes guilty on 24 counts of first degree murder, two counts for each of the 12 victims. Also, he was found guilty of 140 counts of attempted murder for the 70 people wounded (Biography, 2016). James Holmes’ life, upbringing, and behavior preceding the massacre, the significance of the case from a behavioral and security management perspective, the response time by the theater staff and law enforcement, the legal and ethical considerations in this incident and what learning outcomes are relevant to this case study will be some of the highlights covered in this case analysis.

Cave began yelling just before jurors began considering whether James Holmes’ mental illness might be a reason to spare him from the death penalty. She shouted, “Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him,” and continued

"Insanity is defined as a mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or conforming to social standards." (Insanity, pg. 1) It is used in court to state that the defendant was not aware of what he/she was doing at the time of the crime, due to mental illnesses. But insanity is a legal, not a medical, definition. There is a difference between mental illness and going insane. Many problems are raised by the existence of the insanity defense. For example, determining the patient's true mental illness (whether they are faking or not), placement of the mentally ill after trial, the credibility of the psychological experts, the percentage of cases that are actually successful,

Once again I'm going off only the text and going to try to stay away from what was in the media. Yes the individual shooter should have been charged with a crime. My first thought for the charge was murder. In order for it to be a murder crime, actus rea and men reus must be joined in time. The actus rea in this incident was the confronting, shooting, and killing of the suspicious individual walking in a neighbourhood. That's the easy part to prove unlike the men reus.

It is obvious that Holmes did not feel any regret or remorse towards his victims, even after he was given the death penalty. Holmes enjoyed hearing or watching his victims suffer, and that made him feel powerful and in control. The only thing he probably regrets is that he won’t be able to feel that same kind of feeling again. As Michael Swango wrote in his notebook, “ He could feel that he was a god in disguise”, and that is the feeling that Holmes craved for all his life (Larson 388). He only felt like that if he was overpowering someone and making himself seem powerful, and that is why he went through all the trouble to create a hotel specifically for killing people.