WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT: Defense will try to thwart first-degree murd

[CountAllVotes]

Source: Times-Standard

Accused killer Jarrod Wyatt's defense attorney will take the unusual step of trying to present enough evidence at a pre-trial hearing next week to cap or throw out the murder charge prosecutors are seeking for the brutal slaying.

Wyatt is facing first-degree murder charges for killing his friend Taylor Powell, 21, at a home outside of Klamath on March 21. A Del Norte County judge will determine after the preliminary hearing whether District Attorney Mike Riese presented enough evidence of murder -- and of aggravated mayhem and torture -- to put the case before a jury.

But Wyatt's defense attorney James Fallman will present what is known as an affirmative defense, in which the defense can call its own witnesses in an effort to show that the first-degree murder charge should be reduced to a second-degree charge or be thrown out altogether. Fallman would not say whether he intends to mount an insanity defense, in which the defendant must be shown to be unable to distinguish right from wrong, or to understand the nature of his act.

Wyatt has pleaded not guilty to the charges.


Read more: http://www.times-standard.com/ci_15123814?source=rss

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I am for the death penalty in California, especially after reading about this crime called murder. We don't need people like Wyatt in this world that is for sure; he is highly dangerous at best.

Be sure to click on the link and read the whole disgusting/horrific story re: this murder.

May Taylor Powell RIP.

:dem:

[Goblinmonger]

1. No civilized country should have the death penalty

I don't care what the offender was convicted of doing. Lock them away forever so they don't harm society, but killing them is just wrong.

[AuntPatsy]

3. I happen to think it is more inhumane to lock some up for so long like some kind of animal...

I understand why some are against the death penalty since it has been proven innocent lives have been lost but frankly life is not all that long anyway nor obviously is it all that important since death is inevitable, being caged up and locked away forever like an animal is much more harmful in my personal opinion

[Mark D.]

25. A Threat To Others

Aside from this topic, there is the other side, beyond 'cruel punishment'. If someone brutally kills, and it was a totally provable case like this, or worse, like Jeffrey Dahlmer, multiple killings, admission of it, and being 'sick' but not truly 'insane but treatable'. They are then a threat to those they are imprisoned with, if they can kill with no remorse. What's to stop them doing it to the cell-mate, one who could be in prison for much lesser, non-murder charges. What will happen then, will they get 100 more years? The threat that a lifer becomes to others needs to be considered. That is why if their 'death row' provides them isolation from non-murderers, there's a benefit to that. When a killer has no hope for rehabilitation, especially if they're relatively young, that can be millions wasted over their lifetime, keeping some monster alive. Adding fear to those near them, which is cruel to them. In extreme cases, that is where capital punishment works.

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. Yeah, I'd have to agree

Don't see any chance of that piece of shit being "rehabilitated"

[CountAllVotes]

5. yeah, cutting off the face & cutting out the heart ...

and tossing the heart into a fire is a damn bit much for me.

Why the HELL SHOULD WE SUPPORT A CRIMINAL LIKE THIS?

:grr:

:kick:

[Oregone]

8. Support?

Was he receiving a stipend from DU?


:wtf:

[CountAllVotes]

10. . . .

:rofl:

[Mark D.]

22. Caution

I'm sure mushrooms can get people crazy. But there is something to be said of stoners' true soul being revealed by such intoxicants. Where a pacifist might just hug his friend until it was annoying, this person did horrible things. His having that background in fighting (mixed martial arts fighting does not usually encompass the other, more important aspect of martial arts, self-control, and improving one's mind and inner peace). A lot of people get into that because they like violence and can even do it to those they admire. Proof when you may see a cage fighter re-arrange the other person's face, and dance around with a big smile when they 'win', only to go hug the person they might have seriously injured. That's a bit messed up in itself, and you have to consider that subconscious side.

This guy has violent tendencies. Unchecked in the future, he's still a threat. The idea that as long as he won't get stoned again, he would be just fine after time in a mental health ward or jail doesn't work for me. Does it mean everyone who may get violent should thus be jailed? I'm not saying that. This is a complex subject. But it could get "set off" again, by something. Be it on mushrooms, or perhaps some trauma. What about that lady who killed two co-workers at a school, saying 'nothing happened' or something, as she was put in the police car? She was cleared of the killing of a family member years before. Perhaps being more cautious then, of her potential as a threat to others, would have saved those lives years later. We don't know, but we should have caution in this case.

[jayfish]

4. Sounds Like Temporary Insanity Brought About By...

the ingestion of psychedelic substances. Was a toxicology screen done on both the suspect and victim? Not a death penalty or even 1st degree murder case to me.

FSH

[ET Awful]

13. I'm actually wondering if it's more likely that he THOUGHT they were psychedelic mushrooms but

were actually a combination of psychedelic mushrooms and highly toxic ones that really f'ed up his head.

I would say a temporary insanity defense MIGHT work, but his ass should be tossed in a criminal psychiatric ward for life.

[jayfish]

Yup, That Could BE Right On The Money.

Life is a bit much for me on this too. I'd settle for "guilty but mentally ill" with it's attendant maximum sentence and a drug charge with it's max. Served non-concurrently...

FSH

[Oregone]

17. Could of also been laced with other drugs to enhance effect

Old trick dealers do to give things a bigger kick. Has a crappy consequence at times. Especially when they put things like PCP on schwag weed.

[subsuelo]

14. What is the evidence that psychedelic substances lead to shocking crimes like this?

Have there been studies done?

(I really don't know, and I'm not trying to suggest either way. I'm asking what you or others might know about it)

[Oregone]

20. No idea

The guy may of been on the edge to begin with...obviously doesn't look well. Maybe he got the shrooms to cover up his need to kill. No idea. No one will ever really know

[Webster Green]

19. "psychedelic substances"

:wtf: Not likely. Maybe meth. Have you ever tripped?

[jayfish]

31. I'll Plead The Fifth On That One.

Point?

FSH

[Oregone]

6. "We don't need people like Wyatt in this world that is for sure"

So you are some authority to decide that?

What we need less is institutionalized state sponsored murder

[CountAllVotes]

7. ok he can go and be with Manson in jail

the two might deserve one another. :puke:

[snooper2]

9. Maybe the animal living on his scalp made him do it

:evilgrin:

[CountAllVotes]

11. he needs a new beautician for one thing

I suppose we pay for that too?

:kick:

[whokilledthem]

12. Who kills the killers?

And after we kill all the killers.... what does that make the rest of us left over? Killers?

You can not say murder is wrong and then murder people for it.

It really is that simple.

[CountAllVotes]

15. point well taken

:hi: and welcome to the DU!

:dem:

[frylock]

16. word up

[Statistical]

28. Death penalty isn't murder.

Not all deaths are murder.

[whokilledthem]

32. Death Penalty Is NOT murder?

Then what do you call strapping an unarmed shackled person down to a table and pushing poison into them with the express purpose of killing them?

It is called premeditated murder when you or I do it to other people.

Just because the State signed off on it does not make cuffing an unarmed person into a chair and frying them till they die ANYTHING LESS THAN MURDER.

There are just more killers involved who believe in the collective MORALITY of THEIR murders.

Not all deaths are murder... And the point of that empty talking point is what??? It means nothing.

It changes NOTHING of the fact the death penalty is state sanctioned MURDER.

[Statistical]

33. No death penalty is not murder.

A soldier killing another soldier isn't murder either.
Neither is a prison guard shooting a fleeing suspect.

A death row inmate has been given a long and extensive due process.
Just because you are opposed to the death penalty doesn't make it murder.

[whokilledthem]

35. Oh really?

A soldier killing another soldier is not murder...? It is called 'Fratracide'.

In battle.. its called "killing them"... IE.. Murder the bastards.

Anytime you willingly and knowingly take the life of another IT IS MURDER. There is no way you can get around that with any moral distortions.

And to say it is WRONG.. and then murder people for it... is the ultimate in hypocrisy and a damn insult to actual JUSTICE.

[Statistical]

36. "Anytime you willingly and knowingly take the life of another IT IS MURDER"

Please don't confuse your warped personal values with any sort of legal or ethical standing.

Really?
"Anytime you willingly and knowingly take the life of another IT IS MURDER"
So a doctor providing lethal dose to terminal cancer patient in massive pain is MURDER? Why because you said so?
A women defending herself from a rapist with lethal force committed MURDER? Why because you said so?
A Police sniper ending a hostage situation should be charged with MURDER? Why because you said so?

:rofl:

[whokilledthem]

37. My warped values?

HaHa! That is really funny.

Cause unless you are a homicide detective I doubt you know more about murder than I do. And the missing.

I have been chasing killers and searching for the missing since I was a child.

And yes.. mercy killings are murder. If a woman has to murder to defend herself.. so be it.

But yall sitting around believing you have the right to decide who should die.... especially when so many of the objections to sparing them seems to be financial.. It really falls flat after all the bodies I have seen.

Kill the killers if you must... but... that will only make YOU a killer too.

[Javaman]

39. some people will never understand...

they have truly bizarre concepts of what morals and ethics mean.

[harmonicon]

18. yes, it's a good thing that the death penalty prevented this and other murders, or...

Do you not notice the cognitive dissonance involved in your stance? The death penalty is barbaric and should be outlawed in the US if we want to be a civilized country, like, say, Mexico or India, let alone a first-world country.

[rug]

21. It's a psych defense and it should work.

Wyatt did not enter a plea at Tuesday’s arraignment. His attorney, James Fallman, requested more time because he said in court that his client was still under the influence psychedelic mushrooms.

“I think it will take him several days to get lucid,” Fallman said.

The judge granted the request, and Wyatt is now scheduled to enter a plea Tuesday at 1 p.m.

http://www.triplicate.com/20100324108541/News/Local-News/Murder-suspect-is-charged-with-mayhem-torture

Panic reactions can occur after consumption of psilocybin-containing mushrooms, especially if the ingestion is accidental or otherwise unexpected. For example, reactions such as violence, aggression, homicidal and suicidal attempts,<75>, prolonged schizophrenia-like psychosis<42><76> and convulsions<77> have been reported in the literature. The similarity of psilocybin-induced symptoms to those of schizophrenia has led to the drug being used in both behavioral and neuroimaging studies of this psychotic disorder. In both cases, psychotic symptoms are thought to arise from a "deficient gating of sensory and cognitive information" in the brain that ultimately lead to "cognitive fragmentation and psychosis".<7>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin

The real question is whether it was voluntary or involuntary intoxication.

[Turbineguy]

23. My view on the death penalty is

there are things people do for which they probably should die. But they do not deserve to be killed by people like me. They are not worthy. They do not deserve to be protected and coddled on death row. They deserve to be killed by people like themselves. Put them in prison. Put them in the general population and let them take their chances.

[MicaelS]

24. Disagree....

He could still kill someone else in gen pop. Like someone writing hot checks, or other non-violent crime. Or kill a guard. Either execute him, or lock in him solitary for the rest of his life.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. I say we cut out his heart. So we can gain all his powers.

There can be only one.

[Statistical]

27. "Powell's death certificate ... he died from having his heart removed while he was still alive"

Enough said.

[CountAllVotes]

29. yes and this guy deserves to be kept alive in a prison

and receiving free health care, etc. for the rest of his life?

He deserves to die just like the man he killed.

Eye for an eye IMO. :mad:

[whokilledthem]

34. Eye for an eye?

That was a limitation on punishment, not a requirement. An eye for an eye and we would ALL be blind. In both eyes.

Any time you find yourself saying someone 'DESERVES TO DIE'... You have just fallen into a moral abyss you will probably dwell in forever.

You wanting him dead seems to be more financially motivated than morally so.

And you wanting him dead says far more about you than it does him. And we already know he is a killer.

[harmonicon]

38. Ok, you go kill him then.

See if you can do it. I couldn't. If you couldn't, how can you expect someone else to? And if you could kill him in cold blood, you should probably get psychiatric help.

[David Zephyr]

30. What do you tell the loved ones of those who have been executed wrongfully.

How do you correct that?