Varnum & Becker's Circus is coming to the Iowa State Fair
Because it’s Friday the 13th I wasn’t sure what the subject of this post or the title to this post should be. Several ideas I had were:
- Guilty By Reason of Shooting the Popular.
- Varnum & Becker’s Circus is coming to the Iowa State Fair.
- If Mentally I'll, Be Smart, Shoot Only the Un-Popular, or
- It’s not popular to shoot the popular.
- An insane decision can make everyone in Iowa feel better.
Obviously number two won out over 1 and 3.
Now to the circus coming to town… ee-i-ee-i-oooo. Mark Becker did a terrible thing in killing Coach Thomas, but did that give us the right to do an equally bad thing like lock him up like a criminal for the rest of his life? I don't think so. I'm not sure what their mothers and fathers taught them, but mine taught that two wrongs don't make a right. In this case the jury tried to do just that. Mark Becker was insane and finding him guilty and not innocent by reason of insanity was insanely illogical. If you doubt this logical conclusion look at the insanity now taking place in where to place Mark within the Iowa correctional system.
Mark is a young man who the jury determined to not be insane is now being held in the mental health unit due to mental health issues. It appears the system now thinks he’s insane. How does that happen? I continue to shake my head and wonder if the jury’s decision was simply result oriented reasoning leading me to ponder, whether in Becker’s case justice was done. After all if Mark Becker wasn’t insane when he pulled the trigger why now is he considered insane for purposes of incarceration? Here is the sequence of what happened.
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Prosecution: You aren’t insane.
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Becker: Am too.
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Judge during pretrial motions: Am not.
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Becker opening argument: Are!
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Prosecution’s opening arguments: Are not!
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Becker closing argument: Am!
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Prosecution closing: Isn’t!
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Jury Verdict: Guilty by reason of not being insane.
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General Public: Huh? Say what? Can you say that again?
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Warden: Okay maybe you were right Mr. Becker.
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Becker and the general public: Huh?
How does that work? Do each of us have a psychology switch that gets turned on and off at will? The verdict of guilty and not being not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity (Even writing it is an impossible negative.) seeks simply to incarcerate Becker for the rest of his life while ignoring his obvious mental illness issues. Here is the bottom line: If an insane person shoots someone popular the jury can and will with their verdict punish the accused even though in America punishment is strictly for the Courts.
Read the ranting of Becker while in police custody shortly after he pulled the trigger and shot Coach Thomas. From the Huffington Post was this August 7, 2010 report:
In the interview, Becker spoke in a monotone about why he had wanted to kill Thomas, the 2005 NFL High School Coach of the Year who led efforts to rebuild Parkersburg after a huge tornado wiped out about one-third of the town and killed six people in 2008.
"He's a devil, he's a devil tyrant, he's suppressing the kids out here," Becker said of Thomas on the recording. "We can hardly breathe at night. He comes through and he turns us into fish and he turns us into animals and he turns us into dead people. He won't let us be our heavenly selves. He's been doing it forever."
Becker said that after the shooting he told the students present that they were free. Six students who witnessed the shooting have already testified.
"You go in there and kick him if you want to, but you're free. I said, 'Be free,' Becker exclaimed. "It's done, it's done, and it’s over."
During the interview, Becker told Callaway that he saw the devil, "a horned beast," in the room with them.
Not insane? Only the insane would think this man not insane. I can’t wait to read the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision on this one. It wouldn’t surprise me if he gets a new trial on this issue alone. If you think rural Iowa was mad after the gay marriage decision (Varnum) wait for the Becker appellate decision because this could get real interesting. Iowa politics will be better known then as Varnum & Becker Circus.
BOTTOM LINE
This wasn't the right or the decent thing to do. What it did was show fear and a lack of understanding. It was vengeful and wrong. Don't ever wonder why lawyers like me enjoy climbing a good mountain. Sometimes we just need to get away from this insanity called the practice of law where we experience clients barely holding on to reality.
See Coach’s Killer Kept In Mental Health Unit, KCCI, July 17, 2010. See Varnum vs Brien, No. 07-1499, Iowa Supreme Court, April 3, 2009.
Unanimous ruling: Iowa marriage no longer limited to one man, one..., April 3, 2009, Register
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Comments (2)
Read through and enter the discussion by using the form at the endPhil Chanfrau - August 15, 2010 9:29 AM
Jury nullification, where the Jury says BS to the law and does what it wants to do regardless of the law always results in bizarre outcome. Every once in a while the issue is so difficult the JURY just can't cope and decides to act outside the law. I remember when the JURY let OJ go after months of overwhelming evidence of guilt and how disgusted I was with the Jury in that case. I remember thinking that whatever modicum of respect and dignity the US legal system had before OJ verdict, it was going to take a HUGE hit causing a HUGE loss of respect and dignity for years to come.
So how does a jury conclude a Nut is not a NUT? HOw does a criminal system cope with this? I think it puts tremendous pressure on the DA and the court to grant a new trial, throw out the verdict and get a new jury...Sometimes lawyers must rise above the case and act as professional like the courts wants us to act...
Phil Chanfrau - August 15, 2010 9:31 AM
Jury nullification, where the Jury says BS to the law and does what it wants to do regardless of the law always results in bizarre outcome. Every once in a while the issue is so difficult the JURY just can't cope and decides to act outside the law. I remember when the JURY let OJ go after months of overwhelming evidence of guilt and how disgusted I was with the result in that case. I remember thinking that whatever modicum of respect and dignity the US legal system had before that verdict, it was going to take a HUGE hit causing a HUGE loss of respect and dignity for years to come.
So how does a jury conclude a Nut case is not a NUT? HOw does a criminal system cope with this? I think it puts tremendous pressure on the DA and the court to grant a new trial, throw out the verdict and get a new jury...Sometimes lawyers must rise above the case and act as professional like the courts wants us to act...