Fitbud
Banned
Posts: 30,983
Joined: Dec 2011
I Root For: PAC 12
Location:
|
Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
At 12:44 p.m. on March 6, 2009, John Thuesen called 911. "120 Walcourt Loop," he told the dispatcher, breathing hard. "Gunshot victims."
The dispatcher in College Station, Texas, asked what had happened. "I got mad at my girlfriend and I shot her," he said. "She has sucking chest wounds…"
He'd not only shot Rachel Joiner, 21, but also her older brother Travis. Thuesen had broken into the house after midnight, not sure what he'd do but wanting to see his estranged girlfriend. She was out with her ex-boyfriend, but when she returned later that morning, things "got out of hand." Thuesen, a 25-year-old former Marine reservist, called 911 and almost immediately expressed remorse. When he was arrested, he repeatedly asked the police about the victims and tried to explain why he'd kept shooting Rachel and her brother: "I felt like I was in like a mode…like training or a game or something."
Link
|
|
05-02-2016 12:57 PM |
|
HeartOfDixie
Hall of Famer
Posts: 24,689
Joined: Oct 2013
Reputation: 945
I Root For: Alabama
Location: Huntsville AL
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
From a legal standpoint it depends.
From a moral standpoint, yes.
|
|
05-02-2016 12:59 PM |
|
dfarr
Murse Practitioner
Posts: 9,402
Joined: Aug 2004
Reputation: 166
I Root For: UAB
Location:
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
Yes, but still should go to jail for a long, long time
|
|
05-02-2016 01:00 PM |
|
UTSAMarineVet09
Corporal of the Board.
Posts: 16,354
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation: 1271
I Root For: UTSA
Location: West Michigan
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
No.
|
|
05-02-2016 01:02 PM |
|
Fitbud
Banned
Posts: 30,983
Joined: Dec 2011
I Root For: PAC 12
Location:
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
Interesting. I would have said YES.
|
|
05-02-2016 01:20 PM |
|
QuestionSocratic
Banned
Posts: 8,276
Joined: Jul 2013
I Root For: Buffalo
Location:
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
It didn't get Andrew Tahmooressi out of a Mexican jail.
|
|
05-02-2016 01:25 PM |
|
Bull_In_Exile
Eternal Pessimist
Posts: 21,809
Joined: Jun 2009
Reputation: 461
I Root For: The Underdog
Location:
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
"It depends" is the right answer... Get the facts out, get the expert opinions... If it was truly psychological damage then he needs to be institutionalized for a good long time.
|
|
05-02-2016 01:33 PM |
|
gsu95
Fifth Estate
Posts: 2,182
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation: 87
I Root For: USC, GS
Location: Coastal Georgia
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
(05-02-2016 01:02 PM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote: No.
Agree.
|
|
05-02-2016 01:43 PM |
|
UTSAMarineVet09
Corporal of the Board.
Posts: 16,354
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation: 1271
I Root For: UTSA
Location: West Michigan
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
(05-02-2016 01:43 PM)gsu95 Wrote: (05-02-2016 01:02 PM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote: No.
Agree.
We have thousands of victims that suffer from PTSD, but you dont see them going off on other people. Usually they commit suicide, not murder.
|
|
05-02-2016 01:55 PM |
|
Hambone10
Hooter
Posts: 40,279
Joined: Nov 2005
Reputation: 1284
I Root For: My Kids
Location: Right Down th Middle
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
I'd probably say yes on keeping him off death row... but as I understand Texas law (and I only have a layman's understanding of it) you don't get put on death row for a single murder.... regardless of 'why'. You have to be a committing another crime/a threat to others, and in this case, I see untreated PTSD as making him a threat to others.
If he had gone crazy and shot a bunch of people, I'd put him for 25+ with the ONLY chance for parole including convincing (to a parole board) testimony that he no longer suffers from PTSD.
That would be my recommendation/opinion here as well. If PTSD caused him to do it, then he IS (potentially) an ongoing threat.
If he said we just got into a fight and I had a momentary lapse of sanity, I think capital murder goes out the window.
|
|
05-02-2016 02:04 PM |
|
GrayBeard
Whiny Troll
Posts: 33,012
Joined: Nov 2003
Reputation: 880
I Root For: My Kids & ECU
Location: 523 Miles From ECU
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
PTSD or not, he took way too many premeditated steps for my dismissal.
|
|
05-02-2016 02:06 PM |
|
wmubroncopilot
Heisman
Posts: 8,027
Joined: Aug 2008
Reputation: 132
I Root For: WMU
Location: Anchorage, AK
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
End the death penalty.
|
|
05-02-2016 02:35 PM |
|
ark30inf
Hall of Famer
Posts: 11,639
Joined: Oct 2007
Reputation: 588
I Root For: Arkansas State
Location:
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
I'm not in favor of granting a government the power to off its citizenry unless they are an immediate threat. (limited government). Thus opposed to the death penalty.
But that aside. PTSD is not an excuse for premeditated murder...and at least one of these obviously was. I know someone with PTSD and they know right from wrong.
If he had been startled and already had a gun in his hand and killed someone in a split second you can make a case. But two killings over time? Nah.
|
|
05-02-2016 02:43 PM |
|
South Carolina Duke
Banned
Posts: 6,011
Joined: Apr 2013
I Root For: James Madison
Location: Palmetto State
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
No!
|
|
05-02-2016 02:45 PM |
|
gsu95
Fifth Estate
Posts: 2,182
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation: 87
I Root For: USC, GS
Location: Coastal Georgia
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
(05-02-2016 01:55 PM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote: (05-02-2016 01:43 PM)gsu95 Wrote: (05-02-2016 01:02 PM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote: No.
Agree.
We have thousands of victims that suffer from PTSD, but you dont see them going off on other people. Usually they commit suicide, not murder.
To the tune of about 8,000 suicides a year, I read somewhere.
|
|
05-02-2016 04:07 PM |
|
UTSAMarineVet09
Corporal of the Board.
Posts: 16,354
Joined: Oct 2011
Reputation: 1271
I Root For: UTSA
Location: West Michigan
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
(05-02-2016 04:07 PM)gsu95 Wrote: (05-02-2016 01:55 PM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote: (05-02-2016 01:43 PM)gsu95 Wrote: (05-02-2016 01:02 PM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote: No.
Agree.
We have thousands of victims that suffer from PTSD, but you dont see them going off on other people. Usually they commit suicide, not murder.
To the tune of about 8,000 suicides a year, I read somewhere.
that sounds about right.
|
|
05-02-2016 04:11 PM |
|
HarmonOliphantOberlanderDevine
The Black Knight of The Deplorables
Posts: 9,618
Joined: Oct 2013
I Root For: Army, SFU
Location: Michie Stadium 1945
|
RE: Should PTSD Keep Someone From Death Row?
No.
Send him to his Maker.
|
|
05-02-2016 11:13 PM |
|