http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/84641587.html
This is a link to the trial of Mark Becker, the man who murdered Ed Thomas, former high school football coach at Aplington Parkersburg. Besides that this case is relatively local, it is interesting because of the psychological problems which Becker is suffering from. The Defense is going to try to use this to reduce his sentence, it will be interesting to see how this plays out with a local Iowa jury.
I have been following this case fairly closely because I am very interested in seeing what will come of it. From what I have read, I definitely think that the defense has a good argument because I think there are apparent issues that Becker faces. From what I have learned about schizophrenia in various classes and what I have read about Becker's symptoms, I think it'd be very hard to be juror on this case.
This case is not typical in the sense that it seems like everybody knows about it, I mean, the story was on ESPN! For that reason and the fact that Ed Thomas was a well-known and loved man, I think things could end badly for Becker. While I know that what Becker did was horrendous and wrong, the psychology side of me that is interested in mental illness cannot help but understand what was going through his head at the time. Unfortunately for Becker, I don't think the general public feels the same about mental illness and may be much less forgiving than I would be if I was sitting on his jury.
It'll definitely be interesting to see what happens!
I've also been following this trial. I've heard numerous stories about what happend that morning, one of them being him getting up at 3:30am, and asking his father to have coffee with him at about 4 in the morning. Yes, his behavior is sketchy, but personally, I think he knew what he was doing. From the sounds of it, he knew he was going to do it in the first place, which is premeditated murder. Before actually going to the weight room, he was asking people where Thomas was, a clear sign of him planning it out. I think for premeditated murders, anyone should be convicted, and insanity should not even be an option. The fact is, is they thought about doing it. I have really strong opinions about this trial, and if he get's off with insanity, I'll be soooo mad. Although the mental hospital where he came from didn't notify the police of his release, they obviously thought he was good enough to be out.
I saw a testimony of a guy he worked with at Old Chicago here in Cedar Falls. Becker actually trained this guy in the kitchen on how to make the dough for the pizza, a clear sign that he was with it.
I've heard lots a different stories about this case, and I'm not sure which ones are true and which ones aren't, but one things for sure, he killed someone, and that's that. I understand some people are temporarily legally insane at the time, but I personally think he knew what he was doing at the time.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/paranoid-schizophrenia/DS00862
Above is a great link to information regarding paranoid schizophrenia (what Mark Becker allegedly has).
Regardless whether you believe or do not believe that Becker was functioning at the time he murdered Thomas, knowledge about schizophrenia may be important to you someday in your life. Schizophrenia is actually quite common (about 1% of the U.S. population will be diagnosed with it at some point in their life), so if this particular incident is the first time you have been exposed to this disorder, expect to hear about cases like this again. In fact, I was searching online and came across a lot of cases of paranoid schizophrenia and murder.
Knowing information on the link provided may help stop instances such as this from happening in the first place. Although I am not sure if anybody who came in contact with Becker the day of the shooting had knowledge about his past issues or knew about signs of schizophrenia, I would like to hope that if the people who came in contact with him were in any way suspicious of his behavior, they would have contacted authorities.
Put yourself in the shoes of those who came in contact with Becker that day. If you had no prior knowledge about paranoid schizophrenia and the possibility that instances such as this could happen but you suspected something a little fishy, would you be upset at yourself for not realizing the warning signs and not notifying authorities? If you answered yes, take a look at the information in the link provided so you can be better informed and prepared to use this knowledge if this should ever happen to you.
I have also posted a link about this case in one of my posts. I do agree with what someone has previously has said. I do agree that the plea of insanity shouldn't even be allowed. The fact that he did plan it out and was able to put bullets in a gun and pretty much hunt down Ed Thomas it she be murder and a charge of premeditation. The fact their were so many witnesses i don't see why he wouldnt be convicted of murder. From hearing so of the things that Becker has said in the trial it does show that he has some mental illness. If anything i think he should be put in a mental institution and when he is seen able to be let out he should finish out his sentence in jail. I don't believe that he should be allowed to pretty much walk away with a "slap on the wrist" because of a mental disorder that he has. I have worked with individuals with bi-polar disorder and with this disease these individuals can be happy one moment and be angry at the next when they are not on medication and i have seen this first hand. However the individuals that i worked with would never get as angry to kill someone so his plea is kinda crazy. He said that the voices told him and be believed that Thomas "was Satan" is defiantly interesting. I know with schizophrenia you do suffer from hearing voice and other symptoms but my personal opinion is at the time of the murder he knew exactly what he was doing and i dont think his mental disorder was leading his decisions. I may be bias because i know people in the community and have seen how much it has affected the community. They have gone through enough devastation in the last few years that i think some justice should be served.
I have also been following this case intently on the news. A few interview clips struck me interesting and I feel like they go along directly with the topic of memory discussed in class. Three female athletes were interviewed during the trial because they were entering the school's weight room as Becker was leaving after the murder. They all recall the fire-cracker sound (a gunshot obviously) but then two of them seem to disagree when it comes to what happens as Becker leaves. Both girls quote what Becker said as he left, they seem to say about the same thing but used different quotes from Becker. The biggest thing they disagreed on was how Becker drove away from the crime scene. One girl said he sped off, and the other girl said he simply drove off calmly. We can see how these different views can mean very different things. Becker speeding off might show that he was fleeing and therefore guilty. On the other hand, Becker simply driving off might suggest he felt he didn't do anything wrong. I'm surprised these girls differ in their views of this because I'm assuming they must have talked about what happened because they were friends. This evidence would seem to be somewhat contaminated because they probably did talk. However, one of them has to be wrong in the manner to which Becker left the crime. That is a scary thought considering that if there was only one girl witness outside of the school, the jury might just believe that Becker drove off in whatever manner that witness thought he did. Memory contamination happens in so many different ways. It's very scary to think about how faulty a lot of witness reports probably are.