Moderators: carlson1, Charles L. Cotton
You are right. I'm sorry.3dfxMM wrote:The article clearly indicates that the man who was shot was the one on the phone with 911. Since he sincerely believed it was his house he was probably seeking help to get rid of the "tenant".The female resident was on the phone with 911.
PRO wrote:It seems to me the system failed everybody involved here.
There are few resources for people who are seriously mentally ill but not violent.PRO wrote:It seems to me the system failed everybody involved here.
I agree.PUCKER wrote:I don't know about y'all - but in a high-adrenaline situation it would seem pretty normal, at least to me, for some profane words to come out, ...
There are actually homes, schools, and institutions provided by the state. However, if a mentally ill person can be brought to a functional level with medication, he's usually then kicked out because he's "met his goals." Due to the mental illness, the person doesn't continue taking the medication, though, and is right back where he started. So in practicality, you are correct that it often boils down to the street or jail for the mentally ill. I just want to clarify that there are theoretical in-betweens.seamusTX wrote:PRO wrote:They can either live in a cardboard box or go to jail. There is no in between. And BTW, the state spends a monstrous amount of money housing mentally ill people in jail.
How about having your door locks drilled out while a guy that you know is nuts is standing outside?PRO wrote:I guess I’m reading the article wrong. A man standing by, on the phone with the police while a locksmith is changing the locks. This just doesn’t sound like a high adrenaline, fight or flight situation to me.
I'd be damn mad. No doubt about it but if I was mad enough to shoot someone who's just standing outside on the phone then I'm the one who's nuts.seamusTX wrote:How about having your door locks drilled out while a guy that you know is nuts is standing outside?PRO wrote:I guess I’m reading the article wrong. A man standing by, on the phone with the police while a locksmith is changing the locks. This just doesn’t sound like a high adrenaline, fight or flight situation to me.
I'd have some adrenaline going.
- Jim
It gets back to the question of when the defense starts. The DA seems to agree with you, and this woman is charged with murder.PRO wrote:I'd be darn mad. No doubt about it but if I was mad enough to shoot someone who's just standing outside on the phone then I'm the one who's nuts.
Nut-case or not, the guy thought something was wrong and was trying to get the police to intervene. We hear legal terms such as "intent" brought up not only as a defense but actually spelled out in law.seamusTX wrote:If, as reported, he was mentally ill, you can't expect his actions to make sense.Purplehood wrote:Did I read the article correctly? It seemed like she came out of the house while the old guy trying to get into the house was on the phone with 911. Why was he talking to 911?
My mother was in the hospital in the same room with a woman who had some kind of delusional or dementia problem. The woman thought she was in her home. Every time we walked in to visit our mother, the other woman started yelling about strangers being in her home and calling the police. Whatever was wrong with her, she could not manage to dial a number on the phone.
That was before 911 was invented. You had to dial some number like 555-1212 for the police.
As for the resident coming out to confront the intruder, we have that age-old debate about where to initiate your defense. My house has a fatal funnel built into it, and I ain't goin' out.
- Jim
If the cops won't intervene, what was she supposed to do? Let the guy take over the master bedroom? It was a no-win situation.The woman let her emotions take over. Yes, I would be disgusted with the police, mental-health authorities and anyone else that I can think of. But in no circumstances does that justify one taking a shot at someone that is not threatening you with harm.
Your other point was good too. An unjustified shooting of a mentally handicapped person IS the kind of thing that brings the anti’s out of the woodwork.Purplehood wrote:My point is this. He was a guy standing outside on the porch with a phone in his hand. The woman might have had more justification for shooting the locksmith at the time than she might have had shooting the coo-coo guy.
