Courts need to reevaluate insanity - By Mark Schurr

Mark Schurr is a contributor to The Skewed Review.

THE SKEWED REVIEW | NEWS & POLITICS

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Sometimes the perception of sanity and insanity is utterly lost in the heart and minds of the U.S. judicial system. 

People who rape children, commit mass murder or claim to be an angel of God to brutally kill innocent people cannot be sane, but in the eyes of the law they are deemed lucid. Strangely enough, it's a good thing the courts have found baleful criminals to be of reasonable mind.

The Oxford Dictionary defines insanity as "psychotic, neurotic, demented, out of one's mind or wits, a manic; taking leave of one's senses."

Do the U.S. courts know what insanity is? In some cases, no, and that's actually the right call in the eyes of the law.

In my lifetime, the U.S. justice system has rendered some parents who rape their own children, mass murders, and gang rapist of children to be of sound mind. Anybody who commits hostile crimes such as the above are highly disturbed.   

Many nefarious criminals spend a lifetime in prison as opposed to being allowed their freedom due to innocence by reason of insanity.

Imagine if the courts declared Charles Manson and his followers, a.k.a. the Manson Family, to be crazy. Had any of them been ruled demented, they might be free today. Yes, even if Manson or any of his sadistic clan were found to be insane, it's highly doubtful they would have ever been freed. However, they would have had a shot at freedom if by law they were deemed psychotic.   

In July, Martin Pulido-Sanchez, 45, was sentenced to life in prison for 11 counts of lewd sexual conduct with his two daughters, both under the age of 14 according to the article by Julie Johnson, "Petaluma Man Sentenced to 165 Years in Prisonfor Molesting Daughters." 

Johnson's article claims the two girls were raped regularly for years. Sometimes Pulido-Sanchez would have one of his daughters on the lookout while he sexually abused the other. This is not the act of a rational person in my eyes, but since the law has found him clear-headed, Pulido-Sanchez received a life sentence. Had Pulido-Sanchez been depicted in court as a lunatic, perhaps he'd be allowed to live in an unlocked facility such as the Home of New Beginnings. Brief details about the Home of New Beginnings will follow.

The law thankfully prosecuted three boys in the '90s in New Jersey for sodomizing and raping a 17-year old girl with a baseball bat and broom handle who possessed the brain of an eight-year-old. By law, the demented high schoolers who partook in this damnable crime were pellucid. 

"A WholeLot of Poor Judgement," an article by Russell Banks, details the merciless crimes initiated by two high school brothers--a true buzz kill of a story.   

The whole innocence by reason of insanity is comical to me. I believe certain criminals are truly insane and are sincerely remorseful of their crimes. However, certain crimes, even if only committed once, are unforgivable. The perpetrator(s) should never be allowed in society again.

Insane people should not be put in federal prisons, but those who've committed wretched crimes should spend the rest of their lives in a maximum gated facility. 

It's scary to me that a Sonoma County court judge in May ruled Matthew Beck not to be a threat to society anymore.

In February 2000, Beck viciously stabbed Sandra Napier 28 times and her mother 17 times to death in Rohnert Park with a kitchen knife. Beck told police he was an angel of God, and the women were evil spirits. Sounds like the plot of  of "Frailty" with Matthew McConaughey and Bill Paxton released in 2001. 

The article "Family of Rohnert Park Killer UpsetAbout His Release," by Paul Payne, explains how the U.S. courts have regarded Beck to be insane.

I've done the math on Beck's potential release according to the article "Judge Approves Releaseof Hospital Patient Committed After Double Murder." 

The article stated it would take about two months for Beck to be sent to the Anka Behavior Health Northstar facility in Manteca. The article claims Beck would spend about three months in the Manteca facility before being sent to live in The Home of New Beginnings in Santa Rosa. It's highly possible Beck could be free come October.  The above article, like Payne's, claims it could be years before Beck's release. Could it be years before his release? This news is not promising to me.

Technically, Beck is one daft man, but dollars to doughnuts Napier's family would have felt much better if Beck were ruled to have a lucid mind in the perception of the law. If Beck is sent to live In The Home of New Beginnings, he'd be living in the same county as the Napier's surviving family members. Talk about an uncomfortable silence if any of the family members run into Beck in town!

James Holmes, the prime suspect who massacred movie patrons in Aurora, Colo., in July needs the law to consider him sane. If the judge ruling on Holmes' case finds him fatuous, he and Beck might be room dogs in the Home of New Beginnings unrestrained in society. Yes, I know the odds of this happening are the same as having a truthful government, but in this case lie on.