It matters not if this man is found to be insane. He needs to be locked up for the rest of his life. He is a danger to society, sane or insane. If he is found to be insane, I hope he gets treatment while incarcerated.

Anything I would say on the subject, you just said.

I live in Texas, where the prevailing sentiment is, “Hang ‘em high, cuz…shut up, that’s why.” I need to be reminded there are still places in this country where sanity and decency still have a hold.

So I’ll be completely upfront about not fully understanding the nuances of the system. That being said, one of the problems I have with the legal system as it stand in this county is the ruling of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Everything you say is true, however, the legal system is built on semantics. Words matter, each word matters. I do not understand why this system stands on the “not guilty” part when a person was ruled to not have control of their actions.
If the trial shows that the crime was committed by the accused, then the ruling, in my opinion, should be “guilty”. After “guilty”, there should be a further modifier that contains the phrasing of insanity, to make it clear that the person is to be moved along the path that requires treatment and hospitalization and not the path of the crime being a deliberate action. it can’t be forgotten that it happened, and could happen again.
It’s a small thing, but to tell the victim and the friends and family of the victim of a crime that someone is not guilty is a punishment to them, where guilty with an asterisk acknowledges both the crime and understanding that the punishment is different and is a step towards the victims reaching closure.
Words matter. Call it what it is.

And, as a clarification of sorts, I’d hate for the title of my fan post to insinuate that Becker should be sentenced to death. I probably should have been more to the point and simply stated that Becker had been declared competent for trial.

I think you perfectly summed up the competing and contradictory emotions/thoughts many of us share on this tragedy.

But I can’t fathom proving intent here. Just reading the careful comments by the presiding judge, it would seem ‘diminished capacity’, at a minimum, is in the cards. The guy’s current lucidity will be ascribed to his meds being doubled since his arrest. His incarceration and treatment since arrest seem to show clearly, if not ‘prove’ his illness at the time of the killing. If he was lucid as of the event, why did the State need to radically alter his treatment protocol?

Isn’t some sort of plea deal very likely here? I don’t know how he can be successfully prosecuted.

That was beautifully written, and I appreciate the logic, humanity and respect for justice you present. And all the other posters here too; it’s refreshing and reassuring to see so many reasonable, well-though out, compassionate responses, especially considering the sheer unspeakable horrific nature of the crime itself.

One of my best friend’s older brother is schizophrenic – really bad, too. I watched him change from a (relatively) normal, amazingly artistic and mucial guy at age 23 or so to… a walking nightmare by age 27. I can’t imagine the heartache and the horror he and his family must go through every day as a result.

Anyway, I hope, as you so eloquently say above, that justice is indeed served, and that both families directly affected by this and their communities will find peace and comfort.

Our opinions often change when we simply step away from something and look at the big picture and whether we want to or not, see both sides a little more clearly. We, as humans, are emotional and impulsive creatures and sometimes our judgment is clouded when we are caught up in these emotions. It’s when the dust starts to settle and we are able to remove ourselves from the hate and confusion that we can make rational decisions.
  
I am NOT a death penalty proponent, but I know that if Ed Thomas was a close family member of mine my first instinct would be to want the murderer dead. Not in jail, not in a mental institute, dead. I feel like I am an otherwise rational human being, but I understand that I am not above having my decisions clouded by anger and grief. This is, by definition, what it means to be human. And, of course, therein lies the problem.

We have family friends who did; but for the grace of God (or, if you prefer, sheer luck), they ended up hurting nobody and are living better lives under better medication

Just one small contention (even if its not the main thrust of the piece):

I believe in neither god nor luck. I would venture to say that your family experience could be explained by a certain measured, clinical, compassionate, supportive approach taken by your family to ensure to the best of its abilities that something like this did not happen. It seems to me this is exactly what the accused lacked, in the very least from the hospital under which his care was being administered.

If this is not the case in your’s or the accused’s instance, as I am speculating, then the outcomes may have been left to chance. But there is, in my opinion, an important distinction between chance and luck.

Nice piece, though.

Will justice further be served by an inquiry into how the heck he was released without the proper authorities being notified, as requested? Maybe nothing criminal was done there, but in the very least there should be judicial/political pressure to get some new procedures established.