No jail for man who beheaded bus passenger

[sinkingfeeling]

Source: MSNBC.com

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A Canadian judge ruled Thursday that a man accused of beheading and cannibalizing a fellow Greyhound bus passenger is not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

The decision means Chinese immigrant Vince Li will be treated in a mental institution instead of going to prison. The victim's family dismissed the trial as a "rubber stamp" that allows Li to get away with murder.

He will be institutionalized without a criminal record and will be reassessed every year by a mental health review board to determine if he is fit for release into the community.

Li's trial barely lasted two days and only heard from two witnesses, both psychiatrists, who testified he is mentally ill.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29530465/

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Horrible on so many levels.

[babylonsister]

1. The guy has to be completely nuts. What would be the point of a trial? nt

[backscatter712]

6. Literally mentally ill.

He belongs in a hospital, not a prison.

The most striking thing about people like this guy, who most likely has something like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, is that if their illnesses are treated properly with medication and therapy, they end up being really nice people.

[Political Heretic]

2. He shouldn't be in jail if he isn't fit to stand trial.

So what's the problem?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Oh, the media wants to induce outrage among a semi-literate public.

Make it look, literally, like the guy's getting away with murder.

[YOY]

4. Yeah...I'm pretty sure aren't too many folks who wouldn't find him insane...

Mental hospital...rest of his life most likely.

[backscatter712]

7. Maybe.

Sometimes, they can get the illness under control, but he should be under supervision, probably in a mental-illness halfway-house, to make sure he sticks to his meds to ensure he doesn't relapse and have another dangerous psychotic episode.

[YOY]

9. We can only hope. Any mental hospital is going to keep him under a microscope...

and would not release him easily for fear of a relapse and the bad PR thereof.

[sandnsea]

5. This is the correct action

It would be good if we could write the laws so the violentally criminally ill are kept out of society, but they belong in institutions, not jail.

[Veruca Salt]

50. Didn't we used to have institutions just for this?

As well as for all the other mentally handicapped people? It kills me to see them on the streets when they should be taken proper care of.

And please correct me if I'm wrong in this... but I have been told the one responsible for this travesty's name began with a Ray.......

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

8. That's fine, but the court needs to make sure he can NEVER be released

Once out, he could always go off his meds. Honestly, I wouldn't care if someone capped him, though.

[Lautremont]

10. Maybe if you're REALLY lucky you can be there to watch it.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

23. Did I say I want to watch it? No.

I just said I don't care.

[Lautremont]

25. It's good to know the limits of your bloodthirstiness, I guess.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

26. Blame my parents

[tanngrisnir3]

42. What was the limit of his bloodthirstiness?

[bigworld]

11. He'll never be released

Honestly, would you want him moving in next to you?

[Howler]

14. Ditto!

On this man NEVER being released into the public again!!!! Keep him institutionalized .

[kestrel91316]

17. As the daughter of a severly mentally ill mother, I find your final comment

HIGHLY offensive and inappropriate.

My mom was never violent, but her delusions made her fearful enough that it COULD have happened.

Shame on you.

[christx30]

24. I agree with you

He should never get out. I don't want to see him killed (he's lucky that he wasn't shot at the scene), but he should never be out of a mental hospital. If he does, he will be off his meds in a month and something like this will undoubtedly happen again. I mean... I can't even remember to take my headache meds most of the time. How's he going to remember his anti-psychotic meds?

[xchrom]

12. prison is inappropriate for the mentally ill --

the horror and gore of this case will unfortunately disguse that fact.

[Lost in CT]

13. hospital for the Criminally Insane may be appropiate...

But he should stand trial for murder if and when he is "cured"

[kestrel91316]

19. Wrong. Because then he will probably get the death penalty for

something the "real" him had no control over.

Lifetime custody in a mental facility is the WORST he should get.

[Lost in CT]

20. Do they have the Death Penalty in Canada??? nt

[KamaAina]

28. No, they don't. It's a civilised country.

Well, except for Harper, anyway.

[kestrel91316]

15. This is a wise decision. No purpose would be served by "punishing"

this guy. He simply needs to be kept OUT of civilized society until he is no longer mentally ill (and NOT just until his symptoms subside due to medication). If that means he lives out his life in an institution, it works for me.

[ThisThreadIsSatire]

16. Hinckley will get out before this guy...

which is NEVER...

[dysfunctional press]

18. there can be only one.

but what's up with the cannibalizing? that wasn't in the script.

[damntexdem]

21. Well, he did abide by an important principle: eat what you kill.

But I suspect that most hunters won't appreciate the consistency, nor the comparison.

One issue -- if someone is not guilty of an atrocity by reason of insanity, said person might be considered a long-term risk, so not be able to be released after a yearly assessment. A longer period of sanity might be considered a requisite for release.

[LaStrega]

33. So highly inappropriate ...

"eat what you kill."

I know this is a serious subject, so I apologize in advance for the following ...

I no longer have internet access at home, so I'm sitting at the library and I must admit, that comment made me literally laugh out loud. Inappropriately so mayhap. But it did. I'm being shushed by an elderly woman sitting next to me. TEEHEE!

In closing, yes he should be institutionalized not jailed.

[Journeyman]

22. A very good friend of mine was murdered 11 years ago. . .

the killer was a neighbor who believed my friend and her father were demons who had to be slain to protect her three year old son. Police found the slayer holding the child's hand just outside the kitchen where my friend and her father lay dead. He'd shot my friend half a dozen times, her father an even dozen.

He was insane. Had been sick for years and was supposedly under doctor's care and "controlled" by medication. Adjudged not responsible, he was sent to a state hospital.

"He'll never be released," said the DA.

Five years later, a team of psychologists first recommended he be reintegrated to society. It took another five years of wrangling, but he was eventually moved to a half-way house. That was last year. He'll soon be released, possibly before summer.

Helen's still dead. So's her old man. And the child -- eh, what could such a scene have done to a three year old? He's into puberty now.

Changes. Happening all around.

[WriteDown]

37. WOW...

That is a horrible story. Sorry for your loss and shows the many layers of these situations.

[GliderGuider]

27. I understand the distress of the victim's family, but this was the right decision.

The review process is very rigorous, and he's not going to be released just on a one or two year record of good behaviour. It's unlikely he will ever be released -- everyone knows the medication relapse rate is high, and the risk he poses is so extreme.

And no, Canada doesn't have a death penalty. Much to the chagrin of bloodthirsty Canadian neocons from coast to coast to coast.

[sinkingfeeling]

29. Did anybody read the whole article? The young man's family is going to work to get a law passed that

would allow for some prison time for any person who is declared safe to be released from a mental facility. I do believe this guy is mentally ill. The question is should that person ever have to face up to what he did when he is deemed 'fit for release' into the community?

[GliderGuider]

36. Cool. And maybe we could pass a law requiring that

A 4-year-old who shoplifts candy should be sent to jail when they turn 18. Does anyone else see a problem with this line of reasoning?

As the saying goes, "Hard cases make bad law."

[Politicalboi]

30. Unbelievable

He will be institutionalized without a criminal record and will be reassessed every year by a mental health review board to determine if he is fit for release into the community.

Well I hope the doctor that releases him has room at his house to take this guy. And no criminal record. WTF? This guy should NEVER be released. Let him stay in the hospital for life.

[GliderGuider]

34. This is essentially a life sentence.

The reviews are rigorous, and there is virtually zero chance he will ever be deemed fit enough to rejoin society. You can't have a criminal record without committing a criminal act, and you can't commit a criminal act without mens rea. The speed of the process was even a good thing, because they didn't waste time and money belabouring the obvious. It was a good decision.

[One_Life_To_Give]

31. Perception he could be free within 12 months

In actuallity he may be confined for a very long time. But perception is reality, and the 1st review where he is eligable for release coming within 12 months scares people.

[Bryn]

32. He should be put down

that's what we do with animals...like dogs & chimps.

[GliderGuider]

35. He's not a dog or a chimp. though, is he?

[Bryn]

44. He didn't act like a human being, did he?

Beheading/cannibalizing like that. He acted so mindless, souless. I don't see how they think they could help him then release him back to society someday.

[LostinVA]

38. Civilized countries don't murder mentally ill HUMANS

[Bryn]

45. Define mentally ill humans

Most of them aren't violent. What he did is beyond horrible/bloody and should be taken out. He's beyond damaged. Why was it okay for Teri Schiavo to have her life support pulled/be allowed to starve/thirsty? She was "put down" by Euthansia yet save save this mindless, souless, bloodthirsty who beheaded and ate his victim.

[Nihil]

39. Oh no ... not another pit-bull thread?!

:hide:

[Pharlo]

40. Worse -

wait until they find out that before he was force to eat cheese sandwiches in school, he had no mental health issues.

[Bryn]

46. No, I didn't mean it that way

It's just my honest opinion that this guy should be put down, taken out of society. Will he be better? How? Who would take this risk to allow him live with them or next to them? Not me. Nature of his crime is horrible, full of sheer bloody lust and gross, too. I don't expect any of you to agree with me.

[Nihil]

49. Sorry ... inappropriate levity.

:hug:

I do understand your concerns and I have no real answer.

I agree that he needs to be taken out of society and also that he
should not be put in the "standard" prison system. I am just a bit
wary of allowing the "better for society to put him down" side get
too strong as that is a very slippery slope indeed.

IMO, he should spend the rest of his life (not just a few years)
in a secure mental institution ... but even then I can see the
arguments against it ...

:shrug:

[scrinmaster]

41. If he is so crazy that he doesn't know that decapitating someone is bad,

He should never be released.
That's what I never really understood about people being not guilty due to insanity. If someone is so defective that they can't be held responsible for killing someone, they should never be allowed back in public.

[rebecca_herman]

43. Keep him out of society!

I don't see how it could ever be determined safe to release someone into the public who committed such a terrible act, and with no record of what they had done no less!

If he's sick he belongs in an institution not a jail, but I think it should be considered for LIFE after doing something like this. They should never even consider releasing him.

[Art_from_Ark]

47. Really

Living next door to this guy would be like living next door to Psycho character Norman Bates

[cambie]

48. God

wanted him to kill McLean because the young man was a force of evil.
"I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George go and end the tyranny in Iraq'".
Now i have him confused with George Bush and the evil-doers, only he killed and tortured hundreds of thousands when god talked to him.

Is there some sure way to tell these conditions apart? Can Bush be held responsible for anything?