dagblog - Comments for "From Sandy Hook Killer’s Home, a Chilling Inventory"

Death penalty sought for

artappraiser — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:32:45 +0000

In reply to James Holmes Trial Update:

Death penalty sought for James Holmes; trial set for Feb. 2014, Colorado prosecutors consulted victims' families before proceeding, by Trevor Hughes and Gary Strauss, USA TODAY, 2:48p.m. EDT April 1, 2013

He had that level of weaponry

artappraiser — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:28:29 +0000

In reply to It seems a little bit bizarre

He had that level of weaponry because his mother didn't just allow but encouraged his interest in weaponry.

The holiday card to Mr. Lanza from his mother contained a check that specified that the money was to buy a “C183 (Firearm),” the documents say.

It may seem bizarre to many of us but what I've read was that this was a mother who was desperate, desperate to get a rise out of her son to show interest in anything, anything at all. When he showed interest in her interest in guns, she encouraged it. Imagine being his parent, watching him try to hide from everyone and everything once out of babyhood....then imagine that as he gets older, you are divorced and alone in the suburbs with him, and it seems he wants nothing more than to sit in the dark basement in front of a screen for the rest of his life and expects to somehow be supported doing that by someone else.....

It seems a little bit bizarre

Orion — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:20:26 +0000

In reply to From Sandy Hook Killer’s Home, a Chilling Inventory

It seems a little bit bizarre that a young man can be living with his parents and have that level of weaponry in his room and no one intervenes or attempts to intervene in any way. Doesn't it?

James Holmes Trial Update:

artappraiser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:42:09 +0000

In reply to From Sandy Hook Killer’s Home, a Chilling Inventory

James Holmes Trial Update: Prosecutors Reject Guilty Plea Offer From Aurora Massacre Suspect
By Dan Elliot & P. Soloman Banda, Associated Press, March 29, 2013

DENVER — Prosecutors in the Colorado theater massacre case have rejected an offer from suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, saying the proposal can't be considered genuine because the defense has repeatedly refused to give them information needed to evaluate it.

No plea agreement exists, prosecutors said in a scathing court document Thursday, and one "is extremely unlikely based on the present information available to the prosecution." [....]

Karen Steinhauser, a former prosecutor who is now an adjunct professor at the University of Denver's law school, said prosecutors clearly do not want to agree to a plea deal without knowing whether Holmes' attorneys could mount a strong mental health defense.

"One of the issues the prosecution needs to look at is, is there a likelihood that doctors, and then a jury, could find that James Holmes was insane at the time of the crime?" she said.

Prosecutors also criticized comments to The Associated Press by Doug Wilson, who heads the state public defenders' office. [....]

For more see The Denver Post: Aurora DA "extremely unlikely" to OK guilty plea by James Holmes.

Earlier the defense had been probing the possibilities of pleading insanity for an extended time (with many complicating factors) but in mid-March the judge ruled that "truth serum" could be used in that event which made such a plea quite risky.

Jail interview with James

artappraiser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:29:21 +0000

In reply to From Sandy Hook Killer’s Home, a Chilling Inventory

Jail interview with James Goh, shooter at 2012 Oikos University shooting in Oakland, by a Korean-American writer researching school shootings:

That Other School Shooting
By Jay Caspian Kang, New York Times Magazine, March 28/31, 2013

On April 2 last year, a 43-year-old former nursing student named One L. Goh walked into Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., with a .45-caliber handgun. He killed six people and wounded three others, then exited the building and shot and killed Tshering Bhutia, a former classmate, in the school’s parking lot. Goh then climbed into Bhutia’s car and drove to a Safeway in the nearby city of Alameda, where he ultimately surrendered to police.

Five days later, I went to see Goh at the Santa Rita jail in Dublin, Calif., 25 miles south of Oakland. [.....]

Goh told me that his relationship with his father was mostly nonexistent, but that he cooked dinner for him every Wednesday night. Then, with a look of great annoyance, he immediately changed his assessment. “You cannot find one unlucky thing in my childhood,” he said. “I have been raised pretty good.

“But I’m a loner,” Goh continued. “I do not have the skills to deal with other people. I cannot do things that other people do.” When I asked him to elaborate, he said, “My entire life, I cannot do things other people do.” I asked for an example of something he could not do, and Goh rubbed his face with the heel of his palm and squeezed his eyes shut. When he reopened them, he was staring straight at me. “Like lying,” he said.

I asked if he had any fond memories of his childhood in Korea. Goh nodded and said that his life there had been different and that he had become a loner only after his family came to the United States.

He stared down at a stack of papers he had brought with him. Some indecipherable emotion — something close to irritation — passed through his face, and he squinted and slightly opened his mouth. In a slow, considered cadence, he said, “Let me assure you, whatever the situation I was in, I always tried to find the better way.”

Then he paused and looked down at his papers again and said emphatically: “But not that time. Not that time. I was trapped.”

I asked if he was sorry for what he had done. “I very much regret what happened,” Goh said. “I wish it hadn’t happened that way. I’m really sorry to society, Korean society and the families of the victims.” [.....]

Jared Loughner Update: Newly

artappraiser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:57:09 +0000

In reply to From Sandy Hook Killer’s Home, a Chilling Inventory

Jared Loughner Update: Newly released records shed light on Arizona shooting spree suspect
Associated Press, March 27, 2013

PHOENIX - As authorities investigated the rampage that killed six people and wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, they compiled nearly 3,000 pages of documents that include everything from interviews with survivors and victims to police reports filed from the crime scene.

The documents, released Wednesday, provide new insight into how the shooting occurred and the motivations behind gunman Jared Loughner. One of the main themes to emerge was his increasingly erratic behavior, perhaps summed up best by his father as he told investigators: He "just doesn't seem right lately."

A look at some of the major findings: [.....]

GUNMAN'S MOTHER

Loughner's mother, Amy, described his run-ins with authorities, his use of marijuana and cocaine, his journals and his increasingly erratic behavior. She also says the parents took a shotgun away from Loughner after he was kicked out of a community college and tested him for drugs because his behavior was so strange.

GUNMAN'S FATHER

Randy Loughner said his son became increasingly difficult, and it was a challenge to have a rational conversation with him. "I tried to talk to him. But you can't, he wouldn't let you," he said "Lost, lost, and just didn't want to communicate with me no more."

MENTAL ILLNESS

Despite their son's increasingly bizarre behavior, Loughner's parents never got him help. Randy Loughner said his son had never been diagnosed with a mental illness. Had he seen a doctor, the detective asked. "No," replied the father. The parents were also asked about any journals or writings that Loughner kept. The father said they were written in an indecipherable script. [.....]

Perspective: In the 98

artappraiser — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:52:52 +0000

In reply to From Sandy Hook Killer’s Home, a Chilling Inventory

Perspective:

In the 98 days since, guns have killed at least 2,244 more people.

Mapping the Dead: Gun Deaths Since Sandy Hook

Posted: 03/22/2013 6:07 pm EST | Updated: 03/24/2013 8:03 pm EST