Posted on 02/17/2018 6:27:03 AM PST by Simon Green
Following accused school shooter Nikolas Cruz’s first appearance in court on Thursday, his attorney for the hearing, public defender Melisa McNeill told reporters that Cruz is sad, remorseful, and aware of the impact of the shooting on the community.
These statements were empathetic and well-intentioned, but a prosecutor may try to use them against Cruz himself, whose defense options are diminishing as more information emerges about the shooting and his past.
Despite its depiction in popular culture, insanity is not an easy option in criminal cases. It is a huge gamble: It requires admitting to the underlying crime, and then proving additional facts excusing that crime.
In Florida, all persons are presumed to be sane. The defendant has the burden of proving insanity by “clear and convincing evidence.” A judge defines that for a jury as evidence that is precise, explicit, lacking in confusion, and produces a firm belief, without hesitation, that the defendant was insane.
If video and other evidence conclusively identify Cruz as the school shooter, then his attorneys might be forced to consider an insanity defense.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
So was Nick mad?
That’s not the most salient question.
Was the world around Nick mad to not care when Nick did all but scream “Cuckoo” in the front yard every night by the moonlight?
That’s a sore, sore puzzler. The old blame models aren’t working well here at all. We’ve never had a “not caring” crime on our books.
How would it look if God was bidding to convict the world of a love-your-neighbor failure?
Cruz wanted to be known as a school shooter; this was in part done for notoriety. We have to keep in mind this evil murderer’s goals, and a slim chance at acquittal is not one of them.
And yet, he might as well have run ads in the local rag about it for weeks. Not even with dares to stop him if they can.
I think people are trying to now bury a cat poop that was sitting with a scoop right next to it, stinking, for weeks. But even FBI is like not my yob, mon. No. We got to indict Russians for funding a political prank.
He’s been building an insanity plea for I don’t know how long. But hearing voices telling him to do things is a pretty clear and concise point towards it.
rwood
Pretty sure he has confessed in a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty.
Additionally, fleeing the scene in the aftermath should be a prima facia establishment of the capacity for knowing right from wrong.
Ergo, exit any insanity plea.
Evil, without a shadow of a doubt, as are most of the hard Left, and calculatingly so.
Verdict: guilty.
Sentence: death.
He copped a plea deal. Guilty w life to avoid ole sparky. There will be no trial.
Definitely death penalty. I’m just thinking ahead to what his public defender is going to present.
That's fine. I'm just thinking ahead to how I would view that defense if I were on the jury.
Another thread says he will plead guilty to avoid death penalty & to avoid having to put all those school kids onto the witness stand during a trial.
However, I am pretty sure that BI will not escape this mess.
IF he pleads guilty & the state takes the plea, it avoids having all those school kids up on the witness stand.
OBFUSCATION ALERT
These crafty buffoons posing as journalists are only confusing the issues. But then, that is how they see their job.
No way does this POS qualify.
He’s nuts. So hospitalize the poor dear.
***I read elsewhere that he wants to plead guilty if the state takes the death penalty off the table.***
I had a co-worker whose family member was murdered. The judge gave the young killer life in an Arkansas prison farm.
The family looked on it like this...”He will be picking cucumbers all day, getting butt....ed all night!”
Anyone who understands the Latin term mens rea which means “guilty mind” knows that his possible claim of insanity ended with his calculated and purposeful evasion after the murders. A mens rea changes his clothes to escape by blending into the crime. Saying he had to be mentally ill to think that would work is the issue but it won’t work. This the liberal end of Florida, but it happened here so asking for a change of venue to almost any other part of Fla will only take him from the frying pan to the fire. His only hope is a plea of guilty with an allocution for “scientific study purposes.” Don’t count on that working either. There is about a 90% chance he will be executed when his appeals run out in ten years and the idiots stop chanting “Free Cruz.”
Looks insane with those Jimmy Kimmel eyes.
Leave it to NBC to worry about Cruz’s defense.
God, those people are ...I can’t think of a strong enough word.
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