Quote:
Originally Posted by Regorium
I've read the psych report. I truly respect the expert's opinion.
The report states that it is extremely unlikely that such a drastic reaction could be had for being snubbed at a party. Earlier, I believe MattyC stated that you can't really apply rational behavior to an irrational mind - I agree with the statement, but it has to work both ways. We, of rational mind, might think that it's a ridiculous reaction to kill 5 people for being snubbed. For someone irrational, it might be perfectly acceptable - does that make it NCR?
Elliot Rodgers is another person that was a social pariah, and ended up murdering a bunch of white girls and asian dudes. Drastic reaction? Absolutely, but wouldn't really say NCR even though he's absolutely insane (of course he committed suicide, making the discussion much easier).
Some people when they walk in on a cheating spouse, leave in disappointment and file divorce. Others will murder in a crime of passion. In a case like this, many people argue that they were not themselves at that moment in time, completely overtaken by anger and rage and no longer thinking rationally. Does that make them NCR? I'm sure stress, social isolation, improper sleep patterns and all those contributory factors are also involved in cases like that as well as usually that's how relationships break down.
My opinion is that no, he didn't commit murder 1 based on the psych report and the evidence presented, but 5 counts of manslaughter absolutely should've been on the table, which would've guaranteed that he will not be in public for a long time, as well as getting the psychiatric treatment that he needs.
I'm just rambling at this point, but I guess I'm not completely knowledgeable regarding the laws around what constitutes NCR and what constitutes manslaughter. I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out what makes a case like this any different than a drunk driver (who was clearly not himself behind the wheel) that just had financial difficulty, stress at home, a bad upbringing, social isolation, improper sleep patterns, struggling with alcoholism (a condition classified as a mental illness) that killed five people. For some reason, I think the reaction to a case like that would be drastically different than what we see in this thread.
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Yes, you do have it all wrong, and it seems to be because you're trying to overthink everything due to not understanding the disorder itself and how the law applies to it.
With the disorder itself you're comparing rational minds to irrational minds and extremely angry people to mental illness. You're basically all over the map trying to justify justice for the families, which is fine it's human nature. I think you're biggest misunderstanding appears to be that you believe that Degrood could have been kind of in a psychotic state, but also kind of upset and in control of his actions.
What the doctors found is that he was in a psychotic state and not in control of his thoughts or actions. There was no "what the hell's happening to me, I'm going to kill people, I need to stop this, ah geez I don't think I can".
Also, with regards to application of the law, it would make no sense at all to not apply full murder charges but apply manslaughter charges so that he stays in for a long time because you're not comfortable with NCR. I mean you're suggesting literally applying a false charge to a person as a "happy medium criminal charge" to appease people. That's utterly ridiculous.