MAMEWorld Forums - Welcome to the War Room - Re: He's still alive...which means this will never end...

> > Was really hoping people would have closure.
>
> I dunno, the consensus around here seems to be that this was the best outcome. People
> want to hear why. It obviously won't justify anything, and it probably won't even
> make any kind of real sense, but people still want to know.
>
> Plus he'll likely get the death penalty anyway. If they seek it, he'll almost
> certainly be convicted. What kind of defense can he mount? Between everything that
> happened in the last two days and the video they supposedly have of him dropping the
> backpack, he can't try to claim they have the wrong guy. There's way too much
> planning and premeditation for an insanity defense. I guess he'll try to throw his
> brother under the bus, but nobody's going for that. The only thing they could do to
> screw it up is to pull this "enemy combatant" nonsense. Give him a fair trial,
> convict his ass, and be done with it. That will be closure enough.

Sounds all good in theory, but look at history. Aurora shooter? People still have no more understanding as to his motives than they did a week after. He has yet to stand trial, and families will have to re-live the ordeal when (or if) he does. Until then we sit, we wait, we wonder. Having a damaged individual on indefinite psychiatric hold is not closure. In fact it's mental torture.

On the flip side, take the event that happened ~20 miles southwest of Aurora. The Columbine tragedy ended there, and people could immediately begin healing. We probably know just as much, if not more, about the who and the why in this instance. People can mentally "move on", without being forced to re live it over and over again.

I'm not saying that people fully recover in either scenario, just that people can begin that process without the further mental and emotional damage that is done with waiting, trials, and unsatisfactory answers to questions that are best left unasked. The 'suspect' is never going to say anything that will improve the situation, or make any sense to victims and/or families.

Side story:
I know someone who was convinced by his fucked up stepfather to rob an armored car. Together they plotted it and carried out the act. Guns, flack jackets, whole nine. The robbery went horribly bad and he ends up getting shot, lucky to be alive today. I remember thinking at the time, "How the hell could he possibly be capable of something so crazy/stupid/insane". To this day he can't give a solid explanation as to how or why. It's absolutely amazing how much power one person can have over another under the right [or wrong] circumstances.

Moral is that the younger kid could actually have been a decent kid who was roped in by his older brother, and convinced to commit a really horrible act. If that is the case, no one is EVER going to get the answers they seek, because he's not going to have them either. The trial will go on FOREVER. Victims will relive this shit day in and day out for years. And at the end of it all, they now have to deal with the moral weight of knowing that ~they~ helped kill this kid if he gets the death penalty (I know that looks messed up in print, but trust me.) It's just a tremendous amount of mental weight to bear, that could have been ended promptly with his death.