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Is Irvine out of his mind?

As he falls further and further into the grip of paranoia, I have to wonder. I have been watching his insistence that TWA 800 was downed by a missile that hit the centre fuel tank for some time (regardless of two facts: the evidence shows the tank exploded from inside out, and the evidence shows conclusively that nothing penetrated the structure that completely surrounds the tank from the outside). To insist on a conclusion that is impossible, given the physical evidence, is a warning sign of a mind not functioning normally.

Here Irvine makes a bunch of argumentative assertions and accepts them as facts, on his own say-so. Here are a few:

Cliff Baxter...killed himself the day before the suicide exemption on his insurance policy expired, costing his estate a cool $5,000,000. If he did, he was out of his mind.
Hmmm. Well, he did kill himself. Not exactly a sign of real sharp reasoning. I don't know how many people review their insurance policies before they blow their brains out... I suspect that if Baxter was concerned for his "estate" as Irvine puts it, or more generally concerned for his family, he would have faced the music like a man and not killed his miserable self. Ultimately suicide is a selfish and cowardly act.
The 900-page report ... includes some important evidence that [casts doubt on the suicide finding].... Two letters I sent to the Sugar Land chief of police.
OK, I get it. He's his own evidence. Obviously the police aren't too impressed with his reasoning... or his hysterical self-promotion.
but the number missing from the bottle indicates that he may have ingested as many as four in the five hours before he was found dead. If so, he would not have been able to drive, according to a pathologist who is familiar with the drug.
"The number missing from the bottle" means only that those were not in the bottle, not that they necessarily were in this guy. All the "if this, then that" is idle speculation.
The report shows that they weren't interested in evidence that undermined the suicide theory.
So far, Irvine has only shown that they weren't interested in his feverish speculation....
Glaser, which fires a lot of small pellets instead of a lead slug. It is sold in blister-packs of six. Five cartridges, one expended, were found in the gun. The sixth couldn't be found.
Not unusual for people who buy a single pack of Glaser to fool with it, to fire a single shot to see what it does.
Also not unusual for the police to be unable to find out when someone bought one small package of ammunition. For them to be able to do this, which is apparently what Irvine would like, would require an incredibly intrusive computerised system. This man is no friend of liberty... but we knew that. He's just a friend of his own ego.
With a box of Winchester ammo in his house, he had no reason to [buy Glaser].
First, this is pure speculation on Irvine's part. Who says he bought the ammo? Maybe a friend gave it to him. Maybe he did buy it. Lots of people buy different brands of ammunition (especially something promoted as strongly as Glaser) just to try out. But Irvine knows no more about what Baxter was thinking than you or I. If Irvine were logical he would probably not make this mistake.
Second, there is a very good reason for someone to buy a small quantity of Glaser ammo even if he has other ammo -- it is a superior defence round. If Irvine were conversant with firearms he would certainly not make this mistake.
If Baxter had no Glaser, he could not have killed himself with it.
If, if, if. If Baxter were Superman, he could have blown up Flight 800 with his X-Ray Vision and turned his mind to puree by merely thinking hard. (Maybe that's what happened to Reed Irvine).
This is evidence of homicide
Uninformed speculation is evidence of nothing. There are a lot of "ifs" in Irvine's "evidence" and there is no real evidence there.
The recoil would have thrown the gun from his hand to his right and his hand would have dropped to his side.
Nopt necessarily true. After suicide, guns are found in all kinds of places, including in the suicide's hand. Once again Irvine is stating something as fact which just isn't so. A judge would call this "asserting facts which are not in evidence" and sustain any objection to this. Isn't Irvine a lawyer? No wonder he's gone in for celebrity instead... he can't be a very able one.
Both hands and the gun on his lap is indicative of homicide.
Another outright false assertion.
The main indications were that it was on his stationery and in an envelope on which his DNA was found.
Pretty good indications. Handwriting analysis is pretty dodgy anyway.
If he were drugged, his killer could have moistened the flap with Baxter's saliva.
More "ifs". And getting more and more farfetched. The killer writes a note and seals it by pulling out the victim's tongue, while he's on the scene... pure Hollywood.
The note and its envelope should have been checked for fingerprints.
That none were found doesn't mean no one looked. Paper is not always great at retaining prints.
The shards of glass...should have been tested to determine if they came from the car window that was broken by the police to gain entry.
Right, maybe the aliens from the planet buzzcon left them after they used poor Baxter for sexual expirements... geez. So our master killer that thought about using Bax's tongue for a flap moistener, left him full of glass from who knows where (maybe the landing light on his saucer), and didn't worry about it because he knew the cops would break a window to get in.
Incidentally, they did that because the car was locked. And the keys were inside.
If all this was done, the results were not reported, a good indication that findings were negative.
Now he's really reaching... asserting that what is NOT in the report proves his if, if, if, if, case.
To firm up the case for suicide, the police revised the account given by deputy constable Head
Hmmm. Maybe Head was misunderstood, misreported, or maybe he didn't remember something right. Human memory is very unreliable, which is why phantom "eyewitnesses" are key ingredients in conspiracy fevers. This element too is not missing from Irvine's "case."

As a homicide cop Reed Irvine is a failure. He ought to stick to being a fund-raiser, self-promoter, and minor celebrity. He does have some benefit as a training aid in logical fallacies, however.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F