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David Theroux on the Aurora shootings
He makes some excellent points, at the Independent Institute.
While driving today, I hear a radio discussion on what would be the shooter's chances with an insanity defense, if it could be shown that he was delusional and believed he was Joker. I thought it might have one big problem, assuming Colorado follows M'Naughton, so that the person must be delusional to the point of not realizing that he was committing a crime.
Joker is the villain, the arch-criminal. So if he thought was Joker, then he believes what he is doing is evil and illegal. He's insane, but doesn't believe what he's doing is legal.
(I once knew of a case where there was true M'Naughton insanity, but it ended on a plea bargain. The defendant started a fire in his hotel room, went off to eat breakfast, and upon returning asked the firemen "how did you like my fire?" Clearly, he thought that what he had done would earn the firemen's praise, or perhaps they would advise him on how to improve his form and make the next one better.
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By telling the police, and by mailing the notebook to his psychiatrist, I think he's setting it up to make it look like he was suffering from some psychotic break. I hope he doesn't pull it off, but I've seen so many people get off with insanity pleas that I no longer have faith in the system.
Can anyone explain to me why a guy that had just killed 12 people would tell police about the booby trap he had set in his apartment? Why would he take all the time and energy to set them and then just give the info away??