This blog is a continuation of last month's blog about insanity in court cases.A number of years ago, a New York courtroom tried Pedro Hernandez for the murder of Etan Patz who was one of the first missing children to be featured on a milk carton. The defendant said at one point that he put Etan inside a plastic bag and then inside a box and left him a block away from his home in an alleyway with some trash. He said the child was still alive when he abandoned him. He also denied that he had … [Read more...]
Insanity in court cases: Test, Fakery – Part I
As I worked on the footnotes for my soon-to-published Privileged Killers, I wondered how much the insanity test had changed recently. The case I write about in my book, one among a few homicides, showed how a killer got off easy using a mental illness defense. So, insanity is on my mind. In fact, I recently blogged about the speculation that Bryan Kohberger, the suspect in the brutal Idaho stabbing deaths of four, might use mental illness as a defense. Definitions of Insanity. There’ve … [Read more...]
Visual-Snow Effects/Mental Illness-Defenses for Kohberger?
MENTAL HEALTH – DEFENSES FOR KOHBERGER? "The ringing in my ears and the fuzz in my vision is simply all of the demons in my head mocking me " – statement attributed to the Idaho multicide suspect, Bryan Kohberger. Allegedly visual snow plus tinnitus (ringing in the ears from an unknown source) bothered Kohberger enough that he once said he didn't want to live anymore. Allegedly, he also had drug use issues, especially with heroin, and was bullied for being overweight. There are … [Read more...]
Narcissist versus sociopath – which is it?
I've posted a number of blogs about fraudsters Anna Sorokin and Alexander Marc Hatton as well as pieces about the Casanova Scammer and the Tinder Swindler. It's about time now to try to figure out they can be differentiated. So, Narcissist versus sociopath. What're the differences? Using the following two lists, a leading London therapist, psychologist Mark Levrant, weighs in on the attempts to distinguish between the two. Narcissist versus sociopath - how to tell 'em … [Read more...]
Popular Culture and True Crime – Tutorial II – Murderabilia.
In a recent blog (go here), I discussed the furor created by the creation of serial killer trading cards* back in 1992. A similar controversy has erupted over the growing practice of collecting artifacts and even bits of hair from those involved in serial killings. The controversy surrounding Murderabilia. It's an odd world where people collect and own bits of a stranger or infamous person, even if it's as innocent as a lock of … [Read more...]
Answering the question, Is the Joker a Psychopath?
I noted in a recent piece that I'd deal with the question, is the Joker a psychopath? Of course, it matters a lot which portrayal of the Joker we're talking about. Sheltering in place has given many people time to watch various movies. Of the many featuring the Joker, most have probably see Heath Ledger's The Dark Knight and/or Joaquin Phoenix's Joker. To keep things manageable, let's choose Ledger's version in The Dark Knight, knowing there's nothing ever definitive about a fictional … [Read more...]
The Psychopath and The Hare.
The Psychopath and the Hare lip is my way to addressing what's become an interesting debate among moviegoers. Even comic book aficionados have gotten into the act. And so may you and I as so many of us are at home without sports, political rallies, and other live TV as a distraction. We've got time to watch movies like Joker. The debate is whether Joaquin Phoenix, who won an Oscar for Best Actor, portrays the Joker as a psychopath or not? The Psychopath and The Hare … [Read more...]