posted
The legal definition of "not competent to stand trial" is kept in a cell with a slit of frosted glass for a window and an outer door marked ISOLATION. He hides beneath his blanket, picking at sores. He believes the ripening of corn causes the reversal of time.
This is Russell Weston, the paranoid schizophrenic who killed two US Capitol Police in July of 1998 in a bloody shootout in the marble corridors of the US Capitol.
After the rampage, a judge ordered Weston to a Ffederal psychiatric facility for treatment. The idea was to make him competent for trial. What Weston needed was a course of Risperdal or Haldol or Prolixin.
But when the consent forms were put before him, Weston refused to sign.
And when the gurney was on its way to forcibly medicate him, his lawyers stepped in.
For the last 20 months, Weston's lawyers have prevented so much as one drop of anti-psychotic drug from hitting their client's brain, bringing the case of United States of America v. Russell Eugene Weston Jr. to an Orwellian standoff.
Because Weston could face the death penalty if convicted, lawyers from the federal public defender's office argue that to medicate him for trial is to march him toward the execution chamber.
But this defense is exacting a cruel cost on Weston. Two court-appointed psychiatrists have testified that his mental condition has worsened. Because Weston has received no tratment and could be dangerous, he has been kept in seclusion for more than two years, an unheard of period of isolation in modern times.
In the coming days, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan is expected to rule for a second time whether Weston should be medicated.
At the last hearing in November, Weston sat at the defense table, unbarbered and bearded, like some winter wanderer who'd come in from a cardboard box at Indiana Avenue. His blue eyes roamed towards his lawyers, fit and silken, as they made the case to preserve his mental rot.
--Anne Hull The Washington Post
Well. Here it is. When does it become right to give a person medication to make them sane to stand trial? On the other hand, when it does it become right to let a person slip further into a disease in name of "defense"?
------------------ Star Trek Gamma Quadrant Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux *** "Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" -Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
posted
Y'know, just because he's competent to stand trial, doesn't mean he was competent when he killed the people. I mean, obviously, they've proven he's a nutcase. Just because he gets better, that doesn't mean he's responsible for his actions when he was out of his head...
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posted
The defense lawyer's charge is to seek the best possible outcome for the client. I would imagine that for the lawyers in this case, their client getting the death penalty is not the best outcome.
However, I'm not so sure about the mental limbo course the lawyers are taking. It would seem to me that if the fellow thinks corn does all that, well then the case can be made that he is a nutter and was so at the time of the crime.
------------------ "We're just going to have a lot of work. ... Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment." ~ George W. Bush, Deer-In-The-Headlights of the United States
posted
I don't think the law recognises shades of gray. . . if he is competent 'now' (after taking anti-psychotic drugs) then he was competent 'then' (when he killed the cops). Fact is the insanity plea only works in extreme cases, because it's been over-used (and mostly abused).
------------------ "Businesses used to be like Christianity; if you were faithful and obedient, you could obtain bliss in the afterlife of retirement. Now it's more of a reincarnation model. If the worker learns enough in his current job, he can progress to a higher level of employment elsewhere."
posted
Incorrect. One can be insane at the time of a crime and rehabilitated...not really the right word, but you catch the drift...back to sanity. In which case the fact would remain that at the time of the crime, the person was insane.
At any rate, the defense looks to have a fairly decent case regarding usage or nonusage of the medication at the time of the crime as well.
At this point the defense isn't looking to get the guy off, rather they are looking to ameliorate the sentence as much a possible. But in the rather convoluted legal world, one more day of corn reversing time is another day they don't have a conviction to deal with.
------------------ "We're just going to have a lot of work. ... Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment." ~ George W. Bush, Deer-In-The-Headlights of the United States
posted
Yes, in a legal sense you can be, but given how naturally prejudiced any jury is going to be, and given how much the prosecution will try to undermine any evidence of insanity, it's virtually impossible to succeed.
------------------ "Businesses used to be like Christianity; if you were faithful and obedient, you could obtain bliss in the afterlife of retirement. Now it's more of a reincarnation model. If the worker learns enough in his current job, he can progress to a higher level of employment elsewhere."
posted
And there's also the question of exactly how he acted in the shootout. Remember the guy who used the infamous "Twinkie Defense?" They claimed the guy was incompitant, even though he did a darned good job of avoiding security and alarms. He lost.
Personally, once I was medicated and back in my gord, I'd fire those lawyers for making me go through that for two extra years.
------------------ Disclaimer: "All references to vices and of the supernatural contained in this game are for entertainment purposes only. _Over_The_Edge_ does not promote satanisim, belief in magic, drug use, violence, sexual deviation, body piercing, cynical attitudes toward the government, freedom of expression, or any other action or belief not condoned by the authorities." - `OverTheEdge'
------------------ "One's ethics are determined by what we do when no one is looking" Nugget Star Trek: Gamma Quadrant Star Trek: Legacy Read them, rate them, got money, film them....
posted
Once insane, always insane. This is harsh, but it's a truism.
I don't think he should die. Not if they can prove he was REALLY off his rocker when he did what he did, and not simply being your average run-of-the-mill wacko. I DO think that he's too dangerous to ever allow back in society, however. If he stops taking his medicine, the whole thing could happen over again.
------------------ "My knowledge and experience far exceeds your own, by, oh, about a BILLION times!" -- Q
Dan White's lawyers (the twinkie fellows) argued diminished capacity and not full on insanity. Any number of variations on the theme have been used for defense since then.
quote: Diminished capacity:
1: an abnormal mental condition that renders a person unable to form the specific intent necessary for the commission of a crime (as first-degree murder) but that does not amount to insanity (called also diminished responsibility, partial insanity) (compare insanity irresistible impulse test m'naghten test substantial capacity test)
2 a: a defense based on a claim of diminished capacity
b: the doctrine that diminished capacity may negate an element of a crime Note: If diminished capacity is shown, negating an element of the crime with which a defendant is charged, the defendant can only be convicted of a lesser offense that does not include the element.
from FindLaw
------------------ "We're just going to have a lot of work. ... Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment." ~ George W. Bush, Deer-In-The-Headlights of the United States
posted
I didn't type the whole article. That would be a bit much. But ... in Summer of 1996, Weston went to the CIA ...
"...giving his operation name as 'The Moon.' Because he said he had a report for the CIA director, he was brough inside the gates. An agent led Weston into a small conference room.
Very calmly, Weston launched into 50 minutes of mind-bending expository. A videotape recorded the entire session. Weston appears normal. Clean-cut. Straightening his tie. Clasping his hands in his lap. An agent sits across the table from him, diligently scribbling notes in a legal pad.
Weston: Okay, I was cloned at birth.
Agent: Okay, when were you born?
Weston: That is December 28, 1956. Okay, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy, okay, it started off with, first offi, John F. Kennedy was working for the government. They were working on the Ruby Surveillance System.
Agent: Rudy?
Weston: Ruby.
Agent: Ruby.
Weston: R-U-B-Y. The Ruby Surveillance System. Now, do you understand what I'm talking about, the Ruby Surveillance System?
Agent: No, you'll have to fill me in on that.
From there, Weston explains how a ruby is placed in a watch, and a small wheel inside the watch spins, producing a low megaghertz signal picked up by "satellite intel."
Weston: My father was traveling on the highway. He was hit by that interactive beam. His radio became interactive. He was told to recover a prototype watch that had been stolen from the United States government. And that was around 1952, was when that was.
Agent: Okay.
Weston: A woman who had been working for the defense department stole the watch and was trying to make a getaway with it. She was hitchhiking, and a truck driver picked her up, raped her and murdered her.
Agent: Mm-hmmm.
Weston: And just threw the watch and a pocketbook out in a field. But since the watch was running, the United States government always knew where that watch was.
Weston speaks with authority. The agent appears to be getting everything down
Weston: Bill Clinton is mad because John F. Kennedy has swiped his girlfriend, confiscated his interactive television system, and cut off his cocaine supply.
When the interview ended, Weston stood up to shake hands with the agent. Weston wasn't detained or arrested because he hadn't threatened the president, an official would later say.
Weston told the agent to give his best to the CIA Director, and then he walked into the world."
The Washington Post
------------------ Star Trek Gamma Quadrant Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux *** "Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" -Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
Really, they should have taken him into custody there and then, because a person who lives in a fantasy world is unpredictable. You never know when he's going to lash out violently against someone who isn't inclined to listen to or agree with his fantasy.
------------------ "My knowledge and experience far exceeds your own, by, oh, about a BILLION times!" -- Q
posted
I don't think they legally could ... what had he done against the law at the point?
Now, 3 months after that visit, he threatened a lab worker that he believed "had injected him with a needle contaminated with feces and Rohypnol." He got himself a ticket to Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, where he tried to punch a nurse in the face. He was in-voluntarily medicated, but reports showed that in the weeks after he was improving ...
Russell continues to do well. Is pleasant and cooperative with both staff and peers. Takes meds willingly. Personal hygiene good.
Remains able to discuss his delusioanl system without becoming angry. Voices no threats toward anyone. Specifically denying thoughts of harming anyone when asked. His delusional system, however, remains intact
He was discharged after seven weeks, but when he showed up for a follow-up appointment, he had gone off the meds. "When he learned follow-up treatment wasn't court-ordered, he never returned."
------------------ Star Trek Gamma Quadrant Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux *** "Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" -Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
[This message has been edited by JeffKardde (edited January 24, 2001).]
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