Thread: getting away with murder

Originally Posted by billyjeff2

So to tie this all up (hopefully): if the definition of criminal insanity is that the actor was so mentally ill that he completely lacked the capacity to understand what he was doing, to any extent whatsoever, would you still treat that person the same as you would a sane criminal defendant?

I just don't know that it could ever be satisfactorily proven that the person didn't know what they were doing. You can't ever be in their head, you can't even know for sure they aren't faking it to get a reduced sentence. Maybe there are people that don't understand, who knows. I'm not qualified to comment on that. I just see the potential for a lot of abuse, so I'd rather it not be an option.

Originally Posted by jockeys

I just don't know that it could ever be satisfactorily proven that the person didn't know what they were doing. You can't ever be in their head, you can't even know for sure they aren't faking it to get a reduced sentence. Maybe there are people that don't understand, who knows. I'm not qualified to comment on that. I just see the potential for a lot of abuse, so I'd rather it not be an option.

Well, I understand your personally difficulty with the idea of an insanity defense. You obviously don't trust that an ironclad diagnosis can be made. I think we've mined all there is to discuss about this topic given what our philosophic differences are. It was fun...

What I'd be interested to know is did Li (the attacker) have a documented history of mental illness in China? Or did he immigrate to Canada with undiagnosed illness?

Scott

Found this: http://www.canada.com/Health/story.html?id=1356811

Answered my questions

BTW - Is this man really getting away? What kind of personal hell must he be living? Could any man made punishment equal his current sentence?

I have read all the lengthy discussion around the Texas death penalty and really, it has nothing to do with this killing in Canada.

The man in question was seen by not two or three questionable witnesses, but the entire bus-full of passengers. He beheaded his victim, carried his head to the front of the bus, and showed it to the crowd of shocked onlookers as though it were a trophy. No need for DNA testing. He committed the murder. There is no question of his guilt.

His plea of criminal insanity was given with the statement of "God choose me to kill". This probably won't fly. Lots of people try the religious insanity thing and it doesn't really work. The reason it shouldn't work is the fact that he was carrying a large hunting knife with him. It is hard to say you didn't mean to kill someone when you are carrying around a knife that has no use in common urban living. And in a society that dismisses current communication and instruction from God, why would He tell this guy to carry such a knife and kill a random person.

So to the question of should he be sentenced to death. Yes, he should. He should have been killed that night by a concerned fellow passenger when he first started stabbing his victim. His victim could potentially have lived if some of the other passengers had intervened. If anyone is going through some kind of personal 'hell' I imagine it is a passenger that is thinking he/she could have made a difference but did nothing.

So in short, Vincent Li should be killed and I really hope that he is sentenced to death and that this demise comes quickly.