Thursday, March 5, 2009

Getting away with murder

A Canadian judge has ruled that a man accused of beheading and cannibalizing a fellow Greyhound bus passenger is not criminally responsible due to mental illness. The decision means Chinese immigrant Vince Li will be treated in a mental institution instead of going to prison. The family of victim Tim McLean dismissed the trial as a "rubber stamp" that allows Li to get away with murder. "A crime was still committed here, a murder still occurred," said Carol deDelley, McLean's mother. "There was nobody else on that bus holding a knife, slicing up my child." The judge said Li should not be held criminally accountable for stabbing McLean dozens of times in July 2008 and dismembering his body while horrified passengers fled. Justice John Scurfield said Li's attack was "grotesque" and "barbaric" but "strongly suggestive of a mental disorder."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So here's what you do (let's say you're a hitman); instead of "doing" your guy in Jersey, you kidnap him, drive him in your trunk up North into Canada somewhere, get on a bus with him (rohyphnol helps), kill him, behead him, and start eating him in front of the other Canadian bus passengers.

Hey, no prob. Cops arrest you, you spend couple months eating 3-squares a day in a "minimum-pen" at the Canadian taxpayers expense. Then you go to court and get declared insane and -- therefore -- not guilty.

Spend another year or two nodding your head in a circle of guys every morning on plastic chairs in "group therapy" at some Canadian rehab institute, cigarette in one hand, coffee in another. Telling each other that "...yeah it's tough out there..." and "...I try, I really try..." and "...they don't understand us, they really don't...", everybody nodding heads in agreement.

Then you get out. Shake hands with the warden. Hop on a bus -- hey you're back in Jersey before you know it.

Actually that wouldn't work. You're a professional hit-man, you don't have time for this. Nah, you'd risk-manage your "assignments".

If -- on the other hand -- you are a husband who needs to get rid of a wife (or a wife who needs to get rid of a husband!), it might be worthwhile to try this route. Tell him/her you two are going on a lovely weekend getaway to "canada" (that always holds some mystique).

... and that you've heard that the bus is the best way to see great Canadian scenery ...

Average Joe said...

Actually I have no problem in believing that the guy is insane. What I hate is the fact that insane people who commit violent crimes get off so lightly. In my opinion, the guy should be locked away in a mental institution for the rest of his life.