I’m sorry he’s dead, and I shot him, but you see, I’m nuts, so you can’t pull that death penalty stuff on me. I’m going to the funny farm, where I’ll be cared for, fed, recreated, and treated like the king I am…for being crazy. I’ll never have to work again, have my own private room, and life will be just fine for me. My lawyer guarantees it. Pays to be insane, doesn’t it?
Of course, that’s a total exaggeration, but why in the name of common sense, is there such a thing as not guilty because of mental incompetence? Why is there such an animal as an ’insanity defense?’ Are the victims less dead, injured, robbed, raped, or brutalized? No. Is there less suffering by the innocents, because some thug claims to be deranged? Who cares? Hinckley, Reagan’s attempted assassin, lives comfortably, takes long leisurely walks, Watches TV, exercises, eats well, visits his parents on occasion, and lives just fine, thank you. Why wasn’t he executed? Why should it cost a Harvard Education every year, to care for the so-called “criminally insane?” I’d like to shoot them all and save the beleaguered taxpayers hundreds of millions of printing press paper dollars each year. Now, the Supremes are going to decide just what sort of execution is appropriate? The case should have been thrown out. Why is it the custom of Americans, and the world for that matter, to mollycoddle criminals? Are you comfortable? Is there anything we can do for you to make you sane? Can’t we inject some drugs into your criminal body to bring you around to our way of thinking?
Am I nuts for thinking that there should be no ’insanity defense’ of a criminal? Who cares? Not me. Bring back the vigilantes. A few were wrongfully hung perhaps, but crime rates were surprisingly low. If you are armed, and I hope you are, you’d better empty the gun on the criminal, because it saves a lot of court time, jail time, and a life of leisure, if the felon is determined to be nuts. Maybe I am goofy, huh?