Posted on 02/02/2014 11:25:27 AM PST by Innovative
In 1971, Franklin H. Frye was accused of stealing a $20 necklace from a woman on the street, and the court found him not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to Saint Elizabeths Hospital, where he has spent almost all of the past four decades, The Washington Times reports.
His lawyers have been trying to free him for many years. In 2005, his lawyer asserted in a motion that "Mr. Frye has recovered his sanity and no longer suffers from a mental illness as defined by law." It wasn't the first time he's sought release.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Man spends four decades in mental hospital for stealing $20 necklace
According to the article, he was not ever convicted of the necklace theft. He was locked up for being insane.
I think that he is probably in the right place. He sounds much like my brother in law, who should be institutionalized, but is not. The law governing the insane is insane as you would expect on any issue deemed important by the insane left.
The man has been conditionally released multiple times over the years. Apparently, he does not adapt well to change of environment.
Government officials steal millions and billions and trillions and do not get “locked up” in insane asylums.
Though they most certainly should!
They implement the same old policies and strategies, expecting different results each and every time.
Is that NOT insanity???
Not sure why this is a problem. Personally, I think anyone who successfully beats a rap in a criminal case based on an insanity defense should spend at least as much time in a mental institution as he or she would have spent in prison under a maximum sentence. If someone isn’t responsible for their criminal conduct because of their mental state, then they certainly don’t belong walking around freely in public.
Playing devil’s advocate here but it appears the guy admitted to being crazy and then was violent and confrontational for many years while in the system. The same people who decry this man’s institutionalization will look at the Adam Lanza’s of the world and ask “why wasn’t he in a hospital?”
He stole a $20 necklace!!!
Do you think he deserves 40 years in jail or insane asylum for that?
If the man is nuts, keep him in the nut house.
I really don't care if the new booby hatches are big enough to be booby cities, as long as they're identified as such and the patients cannot get out into the public at large.
“Personally, I think anyone who successfully beats a rap in a criminal case based on an insanity defense should spend at least as much time in a mental institution as he or she would have spent in prison under a maximum sentence.”
I agree with your statement, generally. However, I do not believe that 40 years is the applicable sentence for stealing a $20 necklace. ;-)
Yes but a $20 necklace in 1971 is worth way more today.
be careful what you wish for
I don’t think it is worth so much more for the punishment for stealing, a non-violent crime, to be 40 years +.
At least he is not on the curb begging and living under an overpass as one of the left's noble homeless people.
Stealing can be no other than a violent crime.
My guess is that he does fine on his medications, but when he gets out, he won’t stay on them and rapidly spirals.
“He stole a $20 necklace!!! Do you think he deserves 40 years in jail or insane asylum for that?”
Taking the necklace was a piece of luck to be able to put a schizophrenic with borderline intelligence in a mental hospital. Borderline intelligence (between 70-90 IQ) means the person isn’t able to process information well or learn well. Then add a thought process problem a schizophrenic has to that, and he is where he should be. With that amount of intelligence, he won’t be able to function, run his life, in the outside world.
I used to psychologically test criminals after their release from prison. One man I tested was in that dull normal range, about 70-75 IQ. He should not have been sent to prison for what he did, but that is what happened. He “stole” some tires from a service station in broad daylight and was arrested and ended up in prison. He didn’t understand he was stealing, his mind couldn’t register that, he just walked in there and took the tires.
It is a difficult life for dull normal intelligence people. Usually, there will be a family member who will help the individual get through life. If you add a mental disorder, the outcome is not good.
This was exactly what I was thinking. What will happen to conservatives when libs establish the precedent that conservative thought is indicative of mental illness?
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