And, the judge accepts that, and declares a mistrial?!?
From Associated Press:
SEATTLE - A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case of a man who
stormed into a Jewish center two years ago and shot six women, killing one, as
he ranted against Israel and the Iraq war.
Jurors had indicated in questions posed to the judge that they were
hopelessly deadlocked and struggling to determine whether Naveed Haq, 32, was
not guilty by reason of insanity, as he claimed.
King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas ended the jury's
deliberations in their eighth day.
The jurors reached a partial verdict on only one of the 15
counts against Haq, finding him not guilty of attempted first-degree murder of
one of the women.
But they couldn't agree on the lesser charge of
attempted second-degree murder or any of the other 14 charges, which included
murder.
Haq held a teenage girl at gunpoint to force his way into the Jewish
Federation of Greater Seattle on July 28, 2006. Once in the second-floor office,
he began railing against U.S. policies and opened fire when someone tried to
call 911. He shot some people in their cubicles, some in the hall, and one,
Pamela Waechter, fatally as she fled down a stairwell.
An emergency operator eventually persuaded him to surrender.
Prosecutors quickly announced they hope to retry Haq this
year, and representatives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
expressed their disappointment at the mistrial.
"There is no argument Haq killed Pam. There is no argument he
viciously shot five others. There is no argument that he made anti-Israel and
anti-Semitic statements. Somehow, all this was not enough," said Jewish
Federation President Richard Fruchter.
During the six-week trial, prosecutors did not dispute that Haq had
mental problems and had struggled to make friends and hold down jobs. But he
knew right from wrong, could tell what he was doing and wanted to get his
message out, they said.
They noted that Haq planned the shooting for days, drove from
his eastern Washington home to Seattle the morning of the shooting and hid in
the building's foyer to avoid detection.
Haq's lawyers, however, argued that he had a long history of mental
illness that had recently been worsened by a change in his medication. A defense
expert diagnosed bipolar disorder with psychotic tendencies.
8 comments:
Pray this mistrial doesn't make a lot of sane folks go bi-polar to achieve some stress relief of their own.
If Islam is a mental illness, then the verdict in this case was the correct one, right?
Who are the jurors?
I was wondering the same thing.
Pastorius -
Mental illness or not . . .there was a mistrial - so how could a non-verdict be correct?
If Islam is a mental illness - what do you suggest for a cure?
When I was diagnosed with cancer - I fought to be cancer free. I did whatever was necessary to get rid of the disease. . .and was successful.
Naveed Haq's mental illness metastasized & killed or did great harm to innocents.
How many Haq's are out there reaching the critical stages? All because we continue to fear identifying this ideology as the disease.
Naveed,
Jurors can only reach a verdict on charges they are presented with. The reason they did not reach a verdict here is because they didn't think evidence was presented which proved that he was sane enough to be convicted of murder.
It says that in the article.
The guy did, apparently, have a history of mental illness.
Which brings us to another point. If psychiatrists are going to be diagnosing people and prescribing medication to treat their problems, should they not be responsible for making a report (after medication is administered) on whether the person is sane enough to be trusted in society?
And, if he is, should not that report stand as proff, in a court of law, that he is/was capable of making decisions about right and wrong, and is therefore, competent to stand trial?
For God's sake, this is ridiculous. Apparently, we have hugh numbers of people walking around incompetent to make decisions about right and wrong, even though they are under the care of a psychiatrist.
Inch by inch we are seeing it demonstrated that criminal law is inadequate to deal with TERRORISM.
People who commit this kind of murder or suicide murder will always have elements of complete insanity to the WESTERN MODEL OF LAW AND CIVILIZATION.
The result will be either the executive and/or law enforcement acting in ways inimical to the constitution to protect the body of americans, who will LOOK THE OTHER WAY, OR....we will all be armed and dangerous and ready to open fire, AND take the laws into our own hands ..AND look the other way while we're about it.
The law must be made responsive to the terror model of behavior.
So where's the hate crime? If this had happened in a mosque, perpetrated by a Jew, CAIR would be all over it. Oh, that's right: Jews don't commonly practice terrorism. We do really need to address how to properly handle terriorism in our justice system. Saddly, you run more of a risk doing jail time over free speach issues.
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