Suspect in Houston Texas Duputy Killing found mentally incompetent in 2012.

Diamond Jim

Diamond Jim

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http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/31/us/te...3115texasdeputykilledgasstation859pVODtopLink

The suspect was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in a 2012 felony assault case that took place at an Austin homeless shelter. He was sent to a mental hospital where he was found competent six months later. He was returned to Travis County for trial but the assault victim couldn't be found so he went free.

Seems the norm after these highly publicized shootings that we now hear of the mental health problems. What can we as a nation really do to fix the mental health system?

No word yet on how he obtained the gun.
 
Diamond Jim said:
Seems the norm after these highly publicized shootings that we now hear of the mental health problems. What can we as a nation really do to fix the mental health system?
Click to expand...

It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of thing.


If you lock up/forcibly commit everyone who has serious problems and say, at least a 5-10% chance of snapping some day
a) You'll have people screaming about Gestapo government and such
b) Those people aren't going to make progress on being able to fit into society when they're surrounded by nothing but abnormal loons in an institution.


But if you let millions of people with even just a 1% chance of snapping someday walk around free...that adds up to a lot of people snapping eventually.
 
you can bet your ass he will be found competent in this case. no way the cops dont get to see him fry
 
It doesn't shock me that he was sick. That kind of assassination is just too brazen for a normal criminal.
 
Not a shock. Killing somebody in cold blood typically means the presence of serious mental illness...even in cases where a clear motive is known. People are treating mental illness as a cop out these days because they want to focus on the more politically juicy intentions...but mental illness is probably one of the bigger issues facing this country IMO
 
Remember when President Reagan enacted all of those cutbacks to the Mental hospitals across the U.S. and people praised it as a great "Cost saving measure" and no one had spun it back up?
 
Something has to be wrong with you to do what he did.
 
Some crimes by their very nature indicate some mental health issues. This one isn't one of those imo. Just plain old fashioned random murder based on hate. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have mental problems. It is extremely rare to be found not competent to stand trial. Another misconception is that places for the criminally insane are nicer than prisons. They are for the most part, much worse. And people rarely are found competent in a short time (or ever on serious crimes when found guilty by reason of insanity) and released unless it is so they can stand trial.

The sad reality is this guy probably is mentally ill and the system should have kept him but wanted to try him, which then backfired, and instead of being in a mental hospital he was free to be able to do what he did. Our system is fucked when it comes to the mentally ill and how we handle it. Treatment isn't really even on the radar. Normally they just languish and die somewhere never receiving treatment or are considered sane when not and are in some prison somewhere instead of a hospital. Had they been looking to treat this man correctly over something minor, a police officer might still be alive today.
 
mentally competent or incompetent, it doesn't matter. He will either get the chair or locked up in a nuthouse for the rest of his life.
 
Diamond Jim said:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/31/us/te...3115texasdeputykilledgasstation859pVODtopLink

The suspect was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in a 2012 felony assault case that took place at an Austin homeless shelter. He was sent to a mental hospital where he was found competent six months later. He was returned to Travis County for trial but the assault victim couldn't be found so he went free.

Seems the norm after these highly publicized shootings that we now hear of the mental health problems. What can we as a nation really do to fix the mental health system?

No word yet on how he obtained the gun.
Click to expand...
Many who are mentally ill don't think they are or don't want to be treated. But also many of them end up on our dime for one reason or another, even if temporary, and those are the times we have to capitalize. Instead, if they are lucky, we pump them full of some shit to sedate them and stick them in a chair. We don't even try to treat them.

We also can do things to make the public more aware of warning signs and/or the potential dangers to themselves or others so maybe their family steps in. Seems people, either for themselves or family, are more worried about the stigma and their reputation than gettign someone help. But yeah, identifying them when even a family doesn't tell you or trying to forcibly commit them is very difficult.
 
I guess we just have to accept it, just a few years ago homosexuality was a mental illness.
We just need to keep evolving.
 
skombolis said:
Some crimes by their very nature indicate some mental health issues. This one isn't one of those imo. Just plain old fashioned random murder based on hate. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have mental problems. It is extremely rare to be found not competent to stand trial. Another misconception is that places for the criminally insane are nicer than prisons. They are for the most part, much worse. And people rarely are found competent in a short time (or ever on serious crimes when found guilty by reason of insanity) and released unless it is so they can stand trial.

The sad reality is this guy probably is mentally ill and the system should have kept him but wanted to try him, which then backfired, and instead of being in a mental hospital he was free to be able to do what he did. Our system is fucked when it comes to the mentally ill and how we handle it. Treatment isn't really even on the radar. Normally they just languish and die somewhere never receiving treatment or are considered sane when not and are in some prison somewhere instead of a hospital. Had they been looking to treat this man correctly over something minor, a police officer might still be alive today.
Click to expand...


I think it depends on mental state while committing the crime. For all we know, he thought the cop was an alien posing as a cop or some shit.
 
KILL KILL said:
I think it depends on mental state while committing the crime. For all we know, he thought the cop was an alien posing as a cop or some shit.
Click to expand...
Oh I absolutely agree he may have been. I'm just saying it wasn't a type of crime that imo is almost a certainty the person has mental problems, along with other problems.

Now the guy who killed the two people on front of the reporter while filming it and then uploading tweets while on the run before deciding to blow his brains out is something a sane person just wouldn't do. The guy may also have been a hateful racist but at minimum I think it was a combo.

Obviously there is no set standards but I'd say some crimes are much more likely to have mental health issues mixed in. Like killing ia random infants or something,
 
Strychnyne said:
Remember when President Reagan enacted all of those cutbacks to the Mental hospitals across the U.S. and people praised it as a great "Cost saving measure" and no one had spun it back up?
Click to expand...

Yes, the president from 30 yrs ago is to blame for this incident.
 
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