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Jill Nance / The News & Advance Pool via AP
Christopher Speight arrives in Appomattox (Va.) County Circuit Court on Friday.
APPOMATTOX, Va. -- A man accused of killing eight people at his rural central Virginia home and shooting at a state police helicopter pleaded guilty Friday to several murder and other charges and was sentenced to five life prison terms.
Christopher Speight, 42, pleaded guilty to three counts of capital murder, one count of attempted capital murder of a police officer and five firearms counts.
The former security guard was arrested on Jan. 20, 2010, after an overnight manhunt near the Appomattox home he shared with his sister, her husband and their two children. Those family members, two neighbors, their teenage daughter and a teenage boy were killed in the shootings.
After hearing from four relatives of the victims, an Appomattox Circuit Court judge agreed to sentence Speight to five life sentences, plus 18 years.
Kim Scruggs, whose son was among the victims, wept as she scolded Speight.
"Christopher Speight, you look at me! You were a coward up there that day when you shot my son in the back, running for his life," she said. After a long pause to gather her composure, she added, "May God have mercy on your soul."
Steve Canard of Lynchburg, whose sister Karen Quarles was among the victims, brought pictures of his sister, her husband and niece, who also was killed, into court. He told the Associated Press that he wanted to "make sure he remembers the faces of the people he killed."
Speight surrendered at daybreak after the manhunt in the woods. He was unarmed and wearing a bulletproof vest.
According to court records, investigators later seized 42 homemade explosive devices and fuses, multiple rounds of ammunition, several assault rifles and a 9mm pistol from Speight's home.
Family members and others who knew Speight said at the time that he had a history of mental problems and had been obsessed with the mistaken notion that his sister, Lauralee Sipe, was plotting to kick him out of the house on 34 acres that they inherited after their mother's death in 2006.
Five months after the shootings, a judge sent Speight to a state mental hospital for treatment after a psychologist found the defendant was too mentally ill to assist his lawyers or stand trial. The case remained on hold for years as attorneys dealt with pretrial motions and awaited additional mental evaluations.
The shooting victims included Speight's sister and her husband, Dwayne Sipe, both 38, and their 4-year-old son Joshua. Also killed were Morgan Dobyns, Lauralee Sipe's 15-year-old daughter from a previous marriage; Morgan's friend Emily Quarles, 15; Emily's boyfriend Ronald "Bo" Scruggs, 16, and her parents, Karen and Jonathan Quarles, both 43.
Two years after the shootings, officials said for the first time that they believed Speight killed the three Sipes two days before fatally shooting the other five.
Speight also was charged with firing at a state police helicopter, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
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3 hots, a cot, cable tv, a library, and the best health in the country free.
That's cruel and unusual punishment for killing 8 people.
Add him to the 49% that do not pay taxes that we have to shoulder... Make that 49.something%.
Hmmm... This coward deserves a more harsh sentence, something like the death penalty.
If this had happened in China, he would already have been found guilty and executed, with one bullet in the back of his head. Now, the taxpayers will be footing his bills to the tune of about $100 per day as long as he lives. That could be another 36 years or so, totaling at least $1,314,000. The single bullet to the back of his head is much cheaper.
One can only hope that he ends up with a bunkie named Bruno, Guido, Carmine, or Bubba, who does not like child killers... eh?
Yes Wahoo! The figure just keeps going up. Do your homework you "trainwreck" of a human being....
@cunical
If it makes you feel any better, the healthcare in prison is not the best. Mostly it sucks.
Olddog sounds like you speak from experience. Lol j/k you left your self open to that so i couldn't resist the joke making. Sorry. I'm sure your a nice person.
Ok all you liberal hacks, let's hear how he was a member of the Tea Party.
Really OldDog? They get organ transplants and sex reassignment surgery, neither of which is covered under traditional insurance for most people. I've taken care of inmates who 'lived' through "shankings", cancer, strokes, and other medical issues, they receive the same treatment as any other patient. Sometimes better.
And 'we' pay for it.
Also, as an inmate, you receive better healthcare than someone on the outside who doesn't have any insurance at all, your post is BS.
Yeah, give me one reason why this guy wasn't walked out the backdoor and executed instead of wasting money, time and space that could be better used. I do not under stand why they keep these mass murderers alive.
There is at least one mass murderer in Calif that has been there on death row since 1989. There are several murderers that should be executed for fewer murder. There are also several there that have committed mass murder and they are wasting our resources also.
Instead of concentrating on the vile murderers and criminals in our society, our "elected" representatives are concentrating on making laws that attack the law abiding citizens instead of the criminals.
i say they should water board him every day for the rest of his life.
I don't know why you people keep saying that in prison you get the "best health care in the country" you don't. It's as simple as that...you don't...
I don't think he'll be able to serve all five. One will probably be all he can do. That should do it.
I'm more in favor,to 1 bullet,done with him.
I'd have to agree. One bullet is all it takes, cheap and effective and society doesn't pay for him to live with more then what some people have now a days. It's obvious what he did, there is no question on it.
Flip the switch on this tool. Who cares?
(I'm sure some "God" lover will jump in who does. Please post your nonsense to my deaf ears.)
3 hot meals and a bed with obama health care...sounds like he gets for free what the rest of us work for...to bad he ain't got a baby mama with kids get'n the same benefits he does...a lot of them do...and yes these are the good old days...
Theres a good one for you bleeding heart liberals. If this guy doesn,t deserve to die then who does? Lets keep him in prison and feed his dead *ss till he dies of old age at the tune of how much money? Maybe we should send him home with a liberal to stay. Then you can feed him and give him a roof to sleep under. What a waste of money.
on the bright side...maybe there's a lonely guy in prison...who needs a partner to do the harlem shake with...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0_ZQVznHwc
All you folks that say kill him don't want any punishment, you just want him removed at no cost to the tax payer. OK but nobody should be executed until they have served at least 10 years. There will come a time in prison when they will be praying for the mercy of Doctor Death. Then kill the scum bucket.
Kill him the same way he killed others.
Just another crazy survivalist who was exercising his Second Amendment rights until he was arrested for abusing them.
Invisible Hand...
Why is it that every time something happens, some D!ckhead (meaning YOU) has to spew liberal BS....
As if there isn't evidence enough, most of the mass / rage killings across the country in the last 20 years have been done by LIBERALS....yeah...idiots like YOU.
Now shut the hell up and become invisible....normal people don't want your filth polluting young minds.
Such a relief to know that had he been deprived of his 2nd amendment rights- that would have only left him with the 42 homemade explosives-- assuming that bad guys never have illegal guns-choke choke and respect the law.
This sounds like a solid death penalty case to me.
What is the real punishment ?
True , well said , " three hots & a cot " at the taxpayer's expense ! I am sure this sicko is happy !
I am against the death penalty in the too many cases where there is an uncertainty as to guilt ; and the many innocents wrongly convicted , or railroaded , however in cases where there is certainty as to the evil murderer , BURN 'EM ! BURN 'EM ! BURN 'EM !
they should of just issued the death penalty; by lethal injection.
maybe prisons should go back to the way the used to be---now they get tv (lots of channels) exercise equipment and other things that make them more humane treatment.....maybe we need to go back to the chain gangs have them fix our roads, bridges, and other things this country needs done but do not have the $$ to pay for it....then they go back to a normal meal and then bed, no tv, no chatting, nothing, (like the movie the shawshank redemption.) then we can get things done and maybe less overcrowding because we would not have repeat offenders.
this guy though needs solitary for the rest of his life
celiaclady, As far as the road and bridges thingy, the useless ACLU will not allow this to happen!
Will putting this now convicted defendant on the chain gang bring back the eight innocents he shot dead?
I'm for punishing whoever sold this wingnut firearms. Was the profit worth eight lives?
Aw, hell! It's Virginia, so he probably got 'em at some gun show. He's well short of the Seung He Cho/Virginia Tech record.
And yet he could still obtain explosives and firearms. We should all be ashamed of an amendment to the constitution that allows this to happen.
What amendment is it that makes it legal for those who are legally barred from having weapons to have them?
I think he is trying to point out that while citzens have rights to own guns, making gun ownship have too lax of rules puts guns in the hands of the mentally unstable. But if you do not have a problem with a guy in your neighborhood with nothing to lose, getting a gun and shooting at random people, by all means.
8 murders.
Pleads guilty to 3 of them. 18 years for those 3.
5 life sentences for the other 5.
Well, this makes sense huh?
Yo, Judge - please explain....
@ and the horse you rode in on [ middle finger to you Obama]
If you can, stop being an idiot. You should be ashamed to live in a country that allows to you speak your mind. unless, of course, you earned the right.
If the government had heeded the NRA years ago and tracked these mentally ill people that have been deemed, a threat to society, about 99.9% of these types of murder wouldn't have happened. Their records were no added to the background list so they were allowed to purchase tools they shouldn't have had.
@Horse......actually the law does not allow such people to own these devices. In fact, I believe explosives require additional licensing at the federal level. But perhaps....maybe, just maybe criminals and the mentally ill don't always follow the law. Perhaps our existing laws require enforcement.....novel concept, I know. We could probably also do more to address the mental health problems we seem to have in this country.
Although we would have to find money in the budget to do either.....which probably won't be easy - our POTUS did double the debt during his first term (probably double down in his second term)......and passing a budget seems to be a rare thing these days. How is passing another law going to solve the problem of the criminal and mentally ill not following the laws we have in the first place?
Here is an excerpt from a recent article that appeared in the LA Times...01/29/13...that discusses the enforcement/budget problems.....
"SACRAMENTO — California authorities are empowered to seize weapons owned by convicted felons and people with mental illness, but staff shortages and funding cuts have left a backlog of more than 19,700 people to disarm, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.
Those gun owners have roughly 39,000 firearms, said Stephen Lindley, chief of the Bureau of Firearms for the state Department of Justice, testifying at a joint legislative hearing. His office lacks enough staff to confiscate all the weapons, which are recorded in the state's Armed Prohibited Persons database, he said.
The gun owners typically acquired the firearms legally, before being convicted of a felony or diagnosed with mental illness. Each year, the state investigates and seizes the guns of about 2,000 people on the Armed Prohibited Persons list, Lindley said, but each year about 3,000 names are added to the list."
Criminals and the mentally ill are not going to abide by the laws. Why do people think that there are no background checks to purchase a weapon? The laws exist already. The criminal element doesn't care if a law exists to prevent them from getting a weapon, guns are stolen and sold on the street every day.
Okay, we all KNOW and well aware of the gun laws and the effects, aftermath, the disobediance to the law. If someone wants them bad enough, they will get them. (Our own politicians have become the criminals now anyway and they are the very ones who want to leave the good old USA gunless and powerless. To find their motive watch them closely and listen) Now I've touch those 2 issues, Let's leave the guns out of this. Fact is, FAMILY said he had a history of mental illness. That right there should tell everyone something. 2. He had it in his head that his sister was going to kick him out of the house. Paranoia. 3. Family did nothing about it putting him in a place that was better equipped to handle or protect him from himself. He needed medication, if he wasn't already on it.
So, if he truly had a history of mental illness, where was his help? And yes, now he is the burden of the state and probably against the citizen's of that state's will. That's politics folks. But then again, it could be compassion and mercy. Most People who go to prison, do not come out better. They come out expecting hand outs, expecting people to support them, they learn to tell the very ones that love them, "YOU OWE ME" and end up alone and worse off and either back in prison or dead in the streets somewhere because they were enabled by the state system, a.k.a. Enablers. People who enable people from literally learning how to survive and make life on their own are Enablers. Thus, since the states across America choose to fund cable TV, internet, air conditioning, heating, 3 meals a days, warm and cold water, soap, tootbrushes, commissary(?), cigarettes, and many HARD WORKING Americans have to go without cable (I myself do not own cable TV because I am unable to afford such luxury but, my taxes fund it in the prisons around me). When I don't have enough money to pay my electric bill, well it gets cut off and I am without electricity until the next paycheck. When my husband was in the hospital for 6 months, I had to go without food because I didn't have enough money to buy my own food because I was too busy trying to keep up with car insurance, housenote, house insurance, electricity, phone bill, gas for the vehicle, running water. I went without food and I am in the so called free world because the FREE WORLD said I didn't qualify for food stamps unless it was an emergency. The emergency came out when my husband came home from the hospital. We got it for 1 month. I am grateful for that. So, the prison system is my opinion doesn't teach good, help or heal. It enables, teaches how to tell prisoners to say, "You owe me", it teaches them racial barriers, and it doesn't heal them emotionally either. Instead it teaches the prisoner how to force someone who naturally holds their peace to either withdraw or become resentful towards them, once they are on the outside with others. It does more damage than good. Prison systems are supposed to teach the person not to committ such acts of sin anymore and become a better person. But, in my findings of communicating with exprisoners. I would say 2 out of 5 come out a better person. What a sad satistic too. Compassion and mercy are good to have if well meaning lessons come behind it but, it is useless if the person doesn't learn from it.
Family members saying he had a history of mental problems and there being documented proof by mental health experts are two different things. Unfortunately all of those scum bag husbands who had their wives put in mental institutions just based on their say-so and a crooked doctor signing on it, it has become increasingly hard to put away people until after they hurt someone. My uncle was crazy as hell after serving in Korea, he'd walk around muttering sometimes shouting at someone only he could see and my parents were told unless he voluntarily got a mental evaluation their hands were tied until they got a court order which required a lot of proof. He never hurt anyone and died in his sleep in his 80's but we all thought he might do something terrible but our hands were tied.
Isn't it illegal anyway for any of us to have an explosive above the fireworks level now? Can't even go dynamite fishing anymore, right?
I actually remember this happening. At least he pled guilty after getting out of the mental hospital and was sentenced by a judge, skipping a jury trial. I can't imagine being a family member of a victim of any crime having to sit through a trial and having to look at the defendent for week or months. I honestly don't know if I could do it without being thrown out of court.
This is depressing, and our mental health care system is woefully inadequate. I hope the families can start to heal now.
Virginia does have the death penalty, and uses it. Why does this POS get life when his victims, 8 of them, got death. Hell, the court/judge could have ceremoniously at least given him EIGHT life sentences!
He should ride the lightning!
Okay, Horse you rode in on, Your obviously a bleeding heart liberal with no brain much less common sense to make a comment like that, Too bad he couldn,t have had a moron like you in his sights to do the rest of us a favor, and as far as your middle finger sticking up I would like to stick it up your behind crossways, What the guy did is dead wrong and should be shot , one bullet one kill style but don,t bash our 2nd amendment rights scum bag
Yeah and that damn 1st amendment that is protected by the 2nd means we have to listen to your utter crap
Two words....Kill him.
The 2nd Amendment did not "allow" him to have weapons.
Poor law enforcement did that.
I'm sure all the bubbas in the system will make life hell for him. Child killers aren't well liked.
He just might be a bubba. Where's the justice then?
Unfortunately, he will most likely be placed in protective custody which I have never agreed on. I say put him in general population and let the meanest make him their bitch!
Was he part of a well regulated militia? The time is here for strict gun control.
Michael Jackson sangs some lyrics directed at you: got to be starting something, got to be starting something. If need some drama go talk to your girlfriends
You being a sissy doesn't change my rights
takenaka
Do you ever do anything other than sit and post all day with the same stupid junk?
did you say that when the idiot muslim army officer killed 13 people and wounded 32--nope--didn't think so--it's only an outrage when a white guy does it--just pathetic
Time for strict takenaka control.
The government of the USA is still incapable of understanding it's not the guns, but the nut cases who are still allowed to accumulate them. Government mental health care funding should replace Congressional salaries, rather than pay the idiots in Congress to keep fighting each other and not doing what the citizens of this country tell them to do.
AMEN!!!
yes and no....there was just a week ago, an avid collector had DHS ransack his home and steal...STEAL....over 1500 firearms of different types. He was licensed as a lawful vendor and lawfully sold firearms....
THEN...they didn't press any charges on him.
So where are the guns?
Why didn't they give him the guns back?
Since they're not charging him and cannot charge him with a crime, why hasn't he at least gotten the value of those guns returned to him?
This is just another case of Obama trying to create his liberal-utopia that will destroy America.
I know some of the victims' family and this ordeal has been HORRIFIC for them and I am not certain of their feelings in regard to the final decision BUT...I think he should be put before a firing squad!!!!...I can't believe he missed going to trial...only thing that saved him form that is his "mental" condition. A jury SURELY would have convicted him given the overwhelming evidence. I am CONFIDENT that he will get his REWARD once the word gets around the rpison that he killed a child, 3 adolescents and three adults....I feel that the first time he gets sick and sent to the infirmary....SLIP HIM A MICKEY,put him in a body bag anda tote him away and save the taxpayers all that money trying to keep him safe and alive. Have I made my point!!!!! One more thing...please don't spew Christian doctrine about love and forgiveness, that is Gods' to do...NOT MINE!!!!
8 deaths. Do I hear 9?
I'll second that.
We need to look long and hard as a society at the way we deal with these less than human beings, Mental issues, Anger, Hate, Drags, Jealousy, revenge, premeditated murder, 1st degree, 2nd degree, 3rd degree murder etc and so on, its all a crock as now these people know what they are doing and (if you can really call them that) will now sit in a prison with many more amenities than a lot of people have that haven't committed any crimes and it shouldn't be this way.
The money that could be saved by just dealing with these people in the fashion of an eye for an eye mentality would be huge. It might even benefit the prison population because there might be more funds available to actually help the ones that can be helped change there ways.
Maybe I am not explaining it properly but the law needs to change so that when a murder is committed that the person who commits that murder has to give up their life and all there worldly possessions go to the family of the murdered person or something close to this approach.
When we are all youngsters growing up we are all taught what is right and wrong and that life itself is held in the highest regards, if those lessons don't take early on then we know who we have to watch or try to help so that if they do commit a crime they know whats gonna happen when they commit these acts.
Something has to change so that man can continue to move forward without these people being a part of it as they contribute nothing to society once they are convicted of there crimes.
This man deserve the hang mans noose (at the very least), sorry but that is how I see it for what he did. We all know right from wrong.
I hope and prat that the victims family's can still enjoy there lives now that they have all lost loved ones. My condolences to those people.
It's their not there. Maybe all the money spent on guns should go to education.
Golly Frankfast your so smart. Tell me about the rabbits Georgie. That's from Mice and Men by Steinbeck. In case you wondered you snob.
@frankfast
Why not address the poster's comment context rather than making an a$$ of yourself? I can appreciate the "grammar policing" as much as anyone, but we're here to share thoughts and comments about the article in question, not bully people from our safe, cozy little computer desks like cowards.
That being said...
Kill him. That's what murdering eight innocent people, in cold blood, should have earned him. He took it upon himself to be judge, jury, and executioner for four adults and four young people, did he not? It seems that many do not have the stomach for real justice these days.
More people who knew someone was crazy,and didn't take away his guns.BONUS: he didn't go to a school
How do you know they didn't try to? How do you know they didn't go to law enforcement and try to get something done? I know a family right now going through that, you CAN'T GET ANY HELP FROM THE COURT OR MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM. WHEN WILL YOU LIBERALS GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK, KOOL AID DRINKING, SKULLS????????
Liberal liberal liberal.....your a fool.
Don't liberals want no one to have guns? At least get your stupidy straight.
That's from a liberal who owns plenty of guns! Or are only conservatives allowed to have them?
NO ONE wants mentally ill to have guns. But BOTH sides are useless and can't fix anthing!
MY CAPS-LOCK WORKS TOO!!
Kool aid sounds pretty good right now. But all I have is tea.
At least drinking tea is good for you...
Mmmm...Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid. Whatever happened to that stuff? It mixed well with vodka once I got to college. :)
shouldn't kill him, just tase him once every day for the rest of his life.
why waste the effort & electricity it takes to recharge the taser?
Again, another man doing all this killing. Why so often the male of the species. It is rare to hear of a woman doing this.
Yep ALL men are evil, ALL women are wholesome...
Women do make the news, you must not be paying attention.
Hey Uvie: Does the name Aileen Wuornos and Dorothea Puente ring a bell?
All the women and men from Texas are wholesome and god-abiding just look at their posts. It's amazing that they even have to put anyone to death in Texas....must be interlopers from the left coast just passing through. Remember the Alamooo!!
Uvie, Blanche Taylor Moore poisoned several husbands to death. The reason women don't commit mass shootings is the gun kicks to much...
A mentally ill woman who , in California couldn't' buy a gun, moved to New Mexico and because her record weren't in the national database, was able to purhace a gun. She came back to Santa Barbara and murdered 10-12 people
Uvie, You have to ask?
Men are made for action due to the whole "hunting/protecting" role that we have been in for the entire development of mankind. For what we have had to do to survive as a species, it is part of our programming. Sometimes the "program" messes up.
Women kill as well. They just often use other, less violent means. The results are the same, though: dead people.
Sad stuff, this. You know this guy was a loser...living on a farm with his sister and her family, probably in some little shack. Probably couldn't get a job and spent everyday in some fantasy world...worrying about being run-off...
I can't help thinking that if we were genuinely more caring as a society about our fellow man...more able to help on a lot of different levels - unemployment, re-training, mental health care, maybe even realizing that there are people out there who just can't take care of themselves....that perhaps this could have been averted.
Why do we let things get this bad?
I met a woman from Bosnia last summer and she told me that, yeah they don't have a lot of money but in their country there are NO homeless...the community takes care of them...
And no I don't want to move to Bosnia...just sayin'.....
I agree, but it ain't never gonna happen. Not here. That's just not who we are. There ain't no money in it.
Please don't make assumptions about people who live in Va. They did not live in a "shack", it was a beautiful farm and farmhouse. The family was educated, productive citizens who did not see this coming, obviously, and ended up in tragedy.
Thank you, Catherine. I didn't mean to imply that the family was hillbillies or anything like that. I used to live in Va - some of the prettiest country on earth out there in horse country. I could just imagine this guy, though, living in a small cabin/guest house - that's what I meant...shack was a poor choice of words.
Anyway, sounds like you know a lot more about it than I do - all I know is what was in this article. Thanks for the tune-up.
Dorner lovers will cheer this guy for taking shots at tha police copter.
a quick bullet to the head would be more reasonable...
This is a dangerous man. If he was here, he'd be in the San Diego jail for the rest of his life.
San Diego Jail
If this guy had been in uniform over in the middle east we'd be handing him medals and welcoming him home at the airport.
Name 1
Thats got to be the stupidest f@#ken s$%t anyone has said ever! FO&D A$$hole!
Then you'd better be at the airport when I get home so I can kick your pu$$y a$$ all over it for making a comment like that.
Virgil,
Nonsense. They do not give medals for killing families who did nothing to hurt or threaten him.
Maybe you should join the military for and education...and some maturity.
Calm your hysteria.
Good thing he's not black or Hispanic. Then he'd definitely get the execution he deserves.
Yup.
I havn't seen anyone post Don't execute he's white. Why bring race into it. To bad it will cost more in legal fee's to fry him. Try him tonight swing him in the morning
When you are a vile human being, you are a vile human being no matter what color you are.
If you're "white", you are held to a higher standard. If your white and call a vile human being a vile human being, of another race or nationality, you are suddenly a racist, no matter how true it is.
Walk him into a small room with a drain in the floor, tell him kneel down and one to the back of the head and he will never hurt another person again. And people say execution isn't a deterrent, if they are executed they will never kill again.
YUP!
Televise it, and many who are thinking of committing this sort of crime may be deterred as well.
OK, how do you serve 5-LIFE terms ????? Guess he knows where he'll be for the rest of his life (S)
yep. My husband and I were discussing that one. We figured a life term is probably 15 years doing good and being a "Trustie". But even at that, 5 X 15 =75 years (or if he is real good he might get out early if he is still alive). Who knows?
Crazy, but not quite crazy enough to kill himself! He was sane enough to wear a bullet proof vest. Give the chair. Move on.
Why 5 life sentences, you only have 1 life, how about 1 death penalty at noon tomorrow. Firing squad, back wall of courthouse...!!
@ steve-3324823...he was given 5 life sentences because by law in most states life only means 20 yrs, there for he will technically get 100 & no way for parole basically.
Unless it is life without parole, Even then a life sentence is normally 20 years.
One life sentence with no parole would suffice. A swing from a short rope would be much better. Too bad the taxpayers must share this burden.
@Virgil V. Vigilante
Not if they are murderers, like the Sgt who slipped off the FOB and attacked the village. Why so POed at the military, couldn't take it, got kicked out, wouldn't take you, what? I know plenty of people who have had to do things they didn't want to in war, that doesn't mean they are bad people, you do what you have to when it is your life or somebody else's life.
Thanks....I appreciate the fact that someone actually understands.
One death sentance seems more practical.
Just an awful story to read, my heart goes out to the victims and their families. Although I do not know his personal history, I feel this man had a troubled life all along. And judging from the statements of his peers and family, he still needed help as an adult which has obviously gone neglected. Now he will be neglected as well while in the care of the state. I feel bad for everyone involved and hope peace finds them all soon somehow.
night train, you're correct. Something was wrong with this man all along & his sister knew it. Not being present at the scene, I can't say exactly what happened, however there was probably a real & true reason that he felt he was going to be tossed to the road. Mabye the sister rode his back to the breaking point. That, we'll never know. But something triggered this, that evidence either doesn't exist in the police files, or they didn't present it to the jury.
There are mentally challenged individuals all across this country, more than likely, most of us knows at least one of them. One lives three houses down from me, the only reason he's allowed to live at home is for his disability check. He's around 35 years old, beaten regularly, has no money for personal spending (though his SSDI benefit is over $1,300 monthly). When his brother & sister needs to go run errands, he's locked in the basement with no way out, padlocked from the outside. I reported this to Social Services myself, but what did they do? Announce a week in advance that there was a complaint & needed to investigate. They give them the keys to continue to abuse. Yes, this kind of crap is all around us, some may not want to admit it, but that's the way it is.
Many mentally challenged are regular victims of abuse by those who are their caretakers, yet when they "snap" or "go off", it's always their fault. No money, no access to a quality defense team, oftentimes not even access to needed medications, they're always either found guilty or plead guilty just to move on. And usually, the alleged "victim" normally has someone to step forward & state how loving that person was to the accused, how well the accused was cared for, on & on. BS! I don't have enough fingers between two hands to count the abused to some degree that I've witnessed at one place or another, between family (including in-laws) & friends/those met through friends.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not taking up for those who murder. However, just by the many similar discussions right here on the Vine, it's obvious that those who desperately needs help isn't getting it. It's always AFTER they kill that many are pouring forward (many back in their mid to high school years), to state that something "wasn't right" with this person.
This is where the laws that Reagan pushed for that de-funded our mental health system must be repealed. No mentally ill human being needs to be sleeping in the streets that belongs in a mental hospital or group home setting. Nor should they be forced to live in an abusive environment, any who are living at home or with family/friends needs to be checked on monthly. How does the government know where they live? Where their SSDI benefit goes, that many actually "sees" little, if any, of.
Not all murders by the mentally ill can be prevented, but probably 90+% can be, as evidenced by the ever growing number of those killed (as well as other crimes committed) by those who are legally mentally impaired. Our government has the power to greatly stop this type of thing. Seems like prisons can't be built fast enough, yet at the same time, mental hospitals & group homes are having to close due to lack of funding.
Something is very wrong with this picture. This type of attitude towards the mentally challenged plays a huge part in what becomes of them.
There are no winners here, it's highly likely that this human being won't even be properly cared for (medicine, food & protection) while in prison.
I hope that everyone involved here, the families of the deceased, & the convicted killer of them, will all find peace. It's my personal opinion that it could have been prevented before it happened.
Cat
@catilley1092: suggestion: please go to the social security, the disabled authorities and report this family. Locking that person is the basement is abuse. He could live in an assisted living facility with nurses who will check in on him and where he may be taken much better care of. Those people, family or not, should be reported. That is just WRONG. You can be this mentally challenged persons voice, since he doesn't know how to be his own voice.
I'm the one who called Social Services on them & they announced they were coming. Made the basement appear to be a workshop & had him looking good, as well as plenty of food in the fridge. Normally, it's full of beer.
That's a good idea, Social Security is the Feds, hopefully they won't announce they're coming. I'll follow up on that. Actually, he knows how to be his own voice, he's scared. His parents abused him while they were alive, now his brother & sister has taken over. He's a check (as in income) & nothing more.
Cat
Cat...you said it better than I did (post #11). I would add that there just seems to be a real lack of compassion in some segments of our society. I think that's WHY we have the laws we do...
So...how do you suppose the other people, NOT his family, were abusing him? What about the kid he shot in the back? What did he do? Obviously, if he had fears they were going to kick him out, then he wasn't a "paycheck" to them. By all accounts, he obviously had some social issues, but what I think motivated him was greed and laziness. I saw it happen with my aunt when my grandfather died and left the property to all of his children. My uncle, being the elder and more educated was left in charge of keeping up the "estate", if you can call it that. My aunt, living on the property at the time in a broken down trailer because my grandparents had coddled her because she was an addict, was trashing the place. My uncle asked her to clean it up, get into rehab (he offered to pay for it), and get a job (he offered to help her with that too). Next thing we know, my uncle, my mother, and my other aunt all had death threats against them, My mother's home mysteriously caught fire from outside, and someone shot out the window of my uncle's SUV, while my younger cousins were in it. Not to mention all the harrassing phone calls received by my family...except her. Go figure. Being affiliated with certain factions of law enforcement, I drove down, 4 states away, paid her a visit and informed her of what I knew and what I could do. The harassment stopped immediately. I have no doubt she would have escalated to killing one of them.
It seems we have to pay a substantial amount to keep people like this alive. Why is that?
SAH,and to the other posters who know nothing about mental health disorders.We don't execute the mentally ill.His sister and family were absolutely clueless about his mental illness which is apparent by letting him amass the amount of explosives and weapons in a house where there were children.They also didn't warn their neighbors about how unstable he was.Life in a mental institution is where he should be housed for life.This would have been avoidable had he have gotten mental health treatment.
just a cleaning lady, thank you for clarifying what I posted above. This was avoidable. Unfortunately, back in the 80's, Congress listened to too much for Reagan's BS & bought it, hook, line & sinker.
The closure of hundreds, if not thousands of mental institutions & group homes, is the direct cause of many of the crimes that goes on today. Instead of being cared for in a protective environment, many are homeless & resorts to crime.
Whatever took place for de-funding care for the mentally ill needs to be repealed, along with immediate funding to reopen or build new facilities, not only for their sake, but society as a whole.
A civilized society is supposed to take care of their sick & defenseless citizens. We are failing badly in that respect. Seems that it's more important to have basketball courts & all other kinds of sports/recreation equipment for prisoners than to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
The only recreation equipment that prisoners needs is sledgehammers (to manually bust rocks with), shovels, rakes, brooms, mops, anything to do work with, 16 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Cat
@just a cleaning lady
You think they let him amass a collection of explosives and weapons? My 17 yr old has already figured out how to stash a collection of dirty mags, pocket knives, and pilfered cigarettes. Who knows how long he had been doing it before I just happened to stumble onto it. Why are we making assumptions about what his family was or was not aware of? They really aren't here to give us the facts now are they?