That's because it is not a very palatable alternative to jail -- in effect the accused is held in a prison like setting without any time limit.
It's also because someone can be seriously disturbed and not be NCR. An accused has to be unable to understand the nature or consequences of his acts to qualify and almost no one ever does.
The accused, in the case below, by apologizing showed some evidence of not being NCR -- but that's a decision for the judge.
WINNIPEG -- Vincent Li believed he was acting on God's orders to eliminate "the force of evil" when he killed, beheaded and cannibalized a sleeping passenger on board a Greyhound bus last summer, a Winnipeg court heard Tuesday.
Dr. Stanley Yaren, who has worked closely with Mr. Li at the Health Sciences Centre, said Mr. Li was clearly suffering from a major psychotic episode as a result of schizophrenia at the time of last summer's attack. Mr. Li believed 22-year-old Tim McLean was going to "execute" him if he didn't act fast, said Dr. Yaren, director of forensic psychiatry for both the province and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. After killing Mr. McLean, Mr. Li thought he had to further decapitate and defile Mr. McLean's body for fear he'd come back to life to "finish him off," Dr. Yaren said.
Dr. Yaren, director of forensic psychiatry for both the province and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, is the sole Crown witness to testify in Mr. Li's trial, which began Tuesday morning with Mr. Li pleading not guilty to second-degree murder. Prosecutor Joyce Dalman told Queen's Bench Justice John Scurfield that lawyers have agreed on a statement of facts in the case, and that no witnesses to the slaying would be called.
The sole issue for Judge Scurfield to decide is whether Mr. Li should be held criminally responsible. Mr. Li's episodes of bizarre behaviour date back to around 2003 when he was picked up by police walking down an Ontario highway, believing he was "following the sun" after shedding most of his possessions, said Dr. Yaren. Mr. Li was briefly hospitalized in Ontario but received no further followup. ...
Mr. Li was treated at Portage hospital for several cuts, and told officers "I'm sorry" on numerous occasions. "I'm guilty. Please kill me," he added, the court heard. Mr. Li's lawyer is planning to call his own medical expert either later Tuesday or Wednesday.
James Morton
3 comments:
An interesting question would be whether or not Mr. Li could fully understand the nature and consequences of his actions if he was suffering from paranoid delusions, i.e., in Mr. Li's delusional state he believed he was stopping an evil force and saving his own life and did not understand he was butchering an innocent person?
This is a terrible human tragedy in so many ways. Whether or not Mr. Li is found NCR, and wherever he ends up spending the rest of his life, he will never escape his demons.
An interesting question would be whether or not Mr. Li could fully understand the nature and consequences of his actions if he was suffering from paranoid delusions, i.e., in Mr. Li's delusional state he believed he was stopping an evil force and saving his own life and did not understand he was butchering an innocent person?
This is a terrible human tragedy in so many ways. Whether or not Mr. Li is found NCR, and wherever he ends up spending the rest of his life, he will never escape his demons.
I think his remorse isn't necessarily evidence of his understanding of the consequences, if in this context his remorse was related to feeling he HAD TO do a terrible thing, because of the imagined consequences of not doing so.
For instance, one report quoted him as saying "I have to stay on this bus forever" which could be taken to mean locked in a permanent struggle with "the evil" he was "forced" to confront.
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