01-12-2011, 05:15 PM
very good point. I hadn't considered the IQ part. I could see somebody with some mild conduct issues and an IQ of 73 going down his path. That would explain the disjointed ramblings...however, most of what he writes on the web is spelled correctly, which is interesting. Most folks with a 70's IQ spell so bad that the spellcheck doesn't even help them.
We had a HS kid a few years back with schizo-affective disorder who was very aggressive. We thought he was fully capable of bringing a gun to school (he actually threatened to shoot me once). He had an IQ in the 70's (mostly from frying his brain on drugs) and was super paranoid and depressed. With enough stress, he could could have easily done what the Arizona guy did.
....and he'd be guilty as hell in court. I'm sure volumes have ben written as to the relationship between mental health and legal insanity. I think we, as a society, have a very strict criteria for legal insanity and we just lock up the rest or let them choose to be homeless. That was reductionistic, I know, but back to work..
thanks for the engagement; you are an enjoyable contributor to the forum.
kiva
We had a HS kid a few years back with schizo-affective disorder who was very aggressive. We thought he was fully capable of bringing a gun to school (he actually threatened to shoot me once). He had an IQ in the 70's (mostly from frying his brain on drugs) and was super paranoid and depressed. With enough stress, he could could have easily done what the Arizona guy did.
....and he'd be guilty as hell in court. I'm sure volumes have ben written as to the relationship between mental health and legal insanity. I think we, as a society, have a very strict criteria for legal insanity and we just lock up the rest or let them choose to be homeless. That was reductionistic, I know, but back to work..
thanks for the engagement; you are an enjoyable contributor to the forum.
kiva
Grace62 wrote:
Back to you kiva...
What I'm wondering about in addition to mental illness is his IQ.
More reports are coming in from teachers and neighbors who knew him when he was young, and from his string of employers. He has a lot of signs of MR, maybe not severe but low enough to keep him from developing normally. He couldn't follow or understand simple directions at school, at menial jobs, nor at volunteer jobs, leading to arguments with co-workers and eventually leading him to quit or get fired. Certainly couldn't handle normal social interactions. Sure he listed some heavy duty "favorite books" on a you tube video but there's no evidence so far that he ever read any of those.
Nevertheless I'm expecting a death penalty trial, I think most people are expecting that. The charge that's been filed makes him eligible for that, and the notes he left certainly indicate planning and intention. If not on the federal level, then Arizona could sentence him to death.
People shouldn't confuse an attempt to understand who he is and what led him to this heinous crime with an attempt to excuse him from accountability for that crime, but they will.