Tag: school shooting

  • Cho never received treatment

    Cho never received treatment

    Cho Didn’t Get Court-Ordered Treatment:

    With the failure of Cho Seung-Hui getting his court-ordered psychiatric treatment, all parties involved are busy playing the blame game.

    “The system doesn’t work well,” said Tom Diggs, executive director of the Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, which has been studying the state mental health system and will report to the General Assembly next year.

    Involuntary outpatient commitments are relatively uncommon in Virginia, officials said, because those in the system know they are not enforced. They are almost an act of faith.

    “When I let the person go outpatient, I always put on the record, ‘I hope I don’t read about you tomorrow in the paper. . . . Don’t make me look like the foolish judge that could have stopped you,’ ” said Lori Rallison, a special justice in Prince William County. “And knock wood, that hasn’t happened. But it can.”

    Cho’s case is a classic example of some of the flaws in the outpatient treatment system.

    Ya think?

    Cho, they said, slipped through a porous mental health system that suffers from muddled, seldom-enforced laws and inconsistent practices. Special justices who oversee hearings such as the one for Cho said they know that some people they have ordered into treatment have not gotten it. They find out when the person “does something crazy again,” in the words of one justice — when they are brought back into court because they are considered in imminent danger of harming themselves or others.

    So if you’re dangerously crazy in Virginia you get a free pass, it seems like.

    A day later, on Dec. 14, 2005, Paul M. Barnett, the special judge, decided that Cho was an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness and ordered him into involuntary outpatient treatment. It is a practice that Terry W. Teel, Cho’s court-appointed lawyer and a special judge himself, said they use “all the time” in Blacksburg. Special justices such as Barnett are lawyers with some expertise and training who are appointed by the jurisdiction’s chief judge.

    Teel said he does not remember Cho or the details of his case. But he said Cho most likely would have been ordered to seek treatment at Virginia Tech’s Cook Counseling Center. “I don’t remember 100 percent if that’s where he was directed,” Teel said. “But nine times out of 10, that’s where he would be.”

    And there, he said, ended the court’s responsibility. The court doesn’t follow up, he said. “We have no authority.”

    And why doesn’t the court have authority? They’re ‘the court’ for crying out loud. If they don’t have the authority, who does?

    That night, Cho e-mailed a roommate saying he might as well kill himself. The roommate contacted police, who brought Cho to the New River Valley Community Services Board, the government mental health agency that serves Blacksburg.

    There, Kathy Godbey examined Cho and found he was “mentally ill and in need of hospitalization,” according to court papers. That was enough to have Cho temporarily detained at Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health Clinic in Christiansburg, a few miles from campus, until a special justice could review his case in a commitment hearing.

    New River Valley’s Mike Wade maintained that the community services board’s responsibility ended there.

    I see a lot of responsibility ending, but no responsibility taking. How come no one saw this huge gap in responsibility before? Why did it have to take the deaths of 32 innocent victims?

    “When a court gives a mandatory order that someone get outpatient treatment, that order is to the individual, not an agency,” said Christopher Flynn, director of the Cook Counseling Center. The one responsible for ensuring that the mentally ill person receives help in these sorts of cases, he said, is the mentally ill person. “I’ve never seen someone delivered to me with an order that says, ‘This person has been discharged; he’s now your responsibility.’ That doesn’t happen.”

    Virginia law says community services boards — the local agencies responsible for a range of mental health services — “shall recommend a specific course of treatment and programs” for people such as Cho who are ordered to receive outpatient treatment. The law also says these boards “shall monitor the person’s compliance.”

    When read those portions of the statute, Wade said, “That’s news to us.”

    Oh, that’s just great. The people running the mental health agencies don’t even know the law.

    I’m not saying that forced treatment would or wouldn’t have stopped a madman like Cho Seung-Hui, but we’ll never know until someone tries.

    Ever since the day after Virginia Tech, we’ve heard nothing but how they need to close the loophole in the gun laws. It wasn’t until 3 weeks later that someone besides me was talking about shoring up the mental health laws. That’s just sad.

    I think the problem is that we’re too worried about people being offended. You can’t lock a crazy person up because they might get offended. I’d rather have a crazy person with hurt feelings than a mass of bodies.

  • Why Cho chose Norris Hall

    Why Cho chose Norris Hall

    Isolation Defined Cho’s Senior Year:

    This article is mostly about Cho Seung-Hui’s self-imposed isolation and how his mother tried to get him help from various church congregations in Virginia.

    What caught my eye in the article is a tiny blurb about why he more than likely chose Norris Hall for the site of his cowardly rampage.

    What Cho was thinking remains a mystery; so many who knew him say they never heard him speak until the video he mailed to NBC News was aired on television. One clue exists in Cho’s final selection of courses. He was taking a sociology class called Deviant Behavior, according to interviews. The class met on the second floor of Norris Hall, where most of the shootings occurred.

    Basically, familiarity bred contempt.

  • Gregory White sentenced

    Gregory White sentenced

    Joplin man convicted for having firearms, ammunition in house:

    Gregory White, the father of Memorial Middle School shooter Thomas White, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

    White had convictions of attempted burglary in Florida in 1980 and a meth conviction in California in 1988.

    White’s attorney, federal public defender Ann Koszuth, argued for a sentence at the lower end of the range, referring to her client as “a very solid and good family man,” with a good work history and only a distant criminal past.

    “This is a family that’s going to need its father back as quickly as possible,” Koszuth told the judge.

    The judge said he recognized this was “not the typical case we see here for a felon in possession.”

    “On the other hand, the number of guns you had is not just a slight violation,” Dorr said.

    It seems like a fair sentence to me.

  • Cho’s ticket out of the bughouse

    Cho’s ticket out of the bughouse

    EXCLUSIVE: Va.Tech Gunman Ordered to Get Treatment at On-Campus Facility, Lawyer Says:

    The other day I asked if Cho Seung-Hui was court ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment, why did no one from the court follow-up to make sure he was attending said treatments. It turns out that no one was required to.

    With no agency responsible for checking up on court-ordered psychiatric care, it is unclear whether Cho showed up for treatment or received care at another facility. As is standard practice for Montgomery County, the court would have sent Cho to the eligible provider nearest to his home. Cook Counseling center, which is located a few buildings away from Cho’s senior-year dorm, is funded by student health fees and provides care to those enrolled at Virginia Tech.

    Now, I’m not trying to blame anyone but Cho for the massacre, but it seems that Virginia has another loophole they may want to close.

    What’s the point of court ordering someone for psychiatric treatment if there are no repercussions for not following those orders?

  • Hainstock pleads not guilty

    Hainstock pleads not guilty

    Hainstock Pleads Not Guilty In Principal Shooting:

    Shocking absolutely no one, Eric Hainstock has pleaded not guilty to shooting his principal, John Klang.

    I’m anxiously awaiting the defense’s explanation for the not guilty plea. I think they have a false sense of security from the vocal minority who think that Hainstock is the victim in all this.

    If he pleaded guilty and took responsibility for his actions, he may have received the help that some think he needs.

  • How not to be a loser

    How not to be a loser

    How Not to be A Cho Seung Hui:

    Normally, I don’t like to link to political sites on this blog from either side of the aisle. However, I just couldn’t pass up this commentary from Doug Giles at Townhall.com about how you can avoid being the next Cho Seung-Hui. I’ll just give you a little taste.

    The video left by Cho affords great insight into this sick gnat’s psyche, which provides us with a good blueprint on how not to become twisted and pathetic. Three principle evils repeatedly showed up in this petty ninja turtles video montage.

    It’s worth your time to read the entire article.

  • Cho’s ticket to the bughouse

    Cho’s ticket to the bughouse

    Cho Seung-Hui’s Commitment Papers:

    For those of you who are into every minute detail, no matter how insignificant it may be, Slate now has the commitment papers of Cho Seung-Hui.

    I didn’t find the papers themselves very interesting, but rather what was in the article that accompanied it.

    The patient exercised his right to counsel by court-appointed attorney Terry W. Teel (see Page 2), and his case was considered and decided by Special Justice and Guardian Ad Litem Paul M. Barnett. Justice Barnett found that although Cho presented “an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness,” there were suitable “alternatives to involuntary hospitalization” available. Cho was ordered instead to get outpatient treatments (see Page 5). No record has been found to confirm whether Cho, who killed 32 people and himself on April 16, ever sought or received the court-ordered treatment.

    Just a few quick questions here. If Cho presented an imminent danger to himself, why was he not committed? Doesn’t imminent mean inevitable and immediate? Since the court ordered him to attend outpatient treatments, was the court supposed to follow up to make sure he was attending? Isn’t that what court-ordered means?

  • Cho not a victim

    Cho not a victim

    Seung-Hui is not a victim:

    This is an editorial from the Tuft’s University student paper in response to this editorial that claims that Virginia Tech mass murderer Cho Seung-Hui was a “victim”.

    The truth is society is not perfect and it never will be. Who among us has not felt isolated from his or her peers at some point in life? Yet we do not respond with violent rage. This is not how a human being is supposed to act. The individual decision to murder cannot be excused as a result from reality not always being a happy, jolly place. What happened at Virginia Tech was an act of monstrous insanity.

    The only person who can be blamed for Cho Seung-Hui’s violent outburst is Seung-Hui. This is a time to remember the lives of 32 people whose lives were taken away far too soon. The 33rd “victim,” which is what Gunturi refers to Seung-Hui as, should be remembered as the one who took the others’ lives.

    Finally, she argues, “Let us not allow Cho’s death to be in vain.” But very idea that we can take anything positive from this man’s life on Earth is ludicrous. He was a horrible person and the world is a better place without him.

    Amen brother. It’s just such a waste that the loser had to take 32 innocent victims with him.

  • Cho and the escort

    Cho and the escort

    ‘He was Creeping me Out’:

    How’s this for pathetic? According to the article, Cho Seung-Hui couldn’t even get laid by a hooker…

    Chastity Frye says she spent an hour, all alone, with Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui last month.

    Frye said “He was so quiet, I really couldn’t get much from him, he was so distant, he really didn’t talk a lot. It seemed like he wasn’t all there.”

    Frye works for an escort service. She says, Cho hired her, and the two met at a Valley View motel.

    She says “I danced for a little while and I thought we were done because he got up and went to the restroom and began washing. And I said, ‘well, do you want me to go? I’m going to go ahead and go’. And he’s like, ‘I paid for the full hour, you’ve only been here for 15 minutes,’ and then he came back in the room. And I started dancing and that’s when he you know, touched me and tried to get on me and that’s when I pushed him away.”

    When Chastity Frye saw the news about Cho last week, she thought she recognized him. Then, she says, FBI agents questioned her this weekend. Frye says they tracked her down through Cho’s credit card receipt.

    Frye said “I don’t know what to think. I’m just very grateful that nothing happened then. Sometimes I wonder if I could have said something or done something differently or maybe talk to him a little bit more [but] you know, get him to open up? Right. But I wasn’t thinking about that at the time. I was thinking, he was creeping me out, I was thinking about getting out of there.”

    My dad had a saying for guys like Cho. He would say, “That guy couldn’t get laid in a whore house with a stack of twenties.” And here I thought that was just an expression.

    Thanks to BelchSpeak for the link.

  • Cho’s stone stolen

    Cho’s stone stolen

    Cho’s stone gone from memorial:

    An almost 5lb granite rock that bared the name of the Virginia Tech killer was removed from the makeshift memorial that contained 33 blocks that had the names of all who died at Virginia Tech. It disappeared before classes resumed on Monday.

    Hopefully, some drunk college students are doing unspeakable things to it. If they are, I’d like to buy them a beer.