The Horrible Murder of Aysha D. Ring and the Insanity of the Insanity Plea
--Richard E. Vatz
Last week I was on Ron Smith's WBAL radio show for about 40 minutes talking about the invalid mental health survey findings discussed in the American Medical Association journal, The Archives of General Psychiatry, which were the basis for estimations that nearly half of all college students have a mental disorder. Before that, I was talking for about 20 minutes about the case of David A. Briggs, 23, who, according to a story in The Baltimore Sun, killed a woman at a Catonsville liquor store and was "charged with first-degree murder in the death of 24-year-old Aysha D. Ring," whom apparently the assailant did not know. Briggs, it appears, "stabbed [her] in the neck and wrist while [she was] waiting in line to pay for her purchases, according to court documents." Briggs was, again, according to the Sun, "found naked Sunday night in the empty chapel of a homeless shelter in the Pittsburgh area." He was also speaking apocalyptically and/or incomprehensibly. A perfect combination of events to infer that a killer is not to be held responsible for ending a completely innocent person's life.
Often, when I've discussed an interesting matter on television or radio, people I know and some I do not know, want to talk to me about the topic. In the days since the show several -- indeed, many -- people have brought up my appearance, and to this point all of them wanted to discuss only the "case of the nude killer." No one has brought up the more complicated issue of the survey findings.
It is forever thus.
I have written extensively on the rhetoric of the insanity plea and its invariably invalid manifestations in Maryland and throughout the country as well as its use in specific cases like the John Hinckley assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan (Google "Vatz" and "insanity plea," if you're curious).
The insanity plea usually requires the defense to convince a jury and/or a judge that a defendant lacks either the ability to understand what he/she was doing or was unable to control his actions when he/she broke the law.
I have yet to come across a case which convinced me that either criterion was satisfied. When people kill, they almost without exception know what they are doing, and, equally without exception, they have complete control over their actions.
The insanity plea in a relative sense is successfully used rarely (1/4 of 1% in criminal cases), but that translates into many, many cases absolutely over time. It is another clever dodge by defense attorneys who know that juries and judges are easily mystified by strange behavior accompanying criminal and especially murderous activity.
Briggs' attorney indicated he would file a "not criminally responsible" plea, Maryland's version of the insanity plea.
But of course. No person intending to kill another person would ever take off his clothes and perform rituals. All murderers are completely normal except for their violent crimes.
Why did Briggs take off his clothes and talk strangely? I don't know. I don't care. Neither should you. Briggs, not so incidentally, had a criminal record -- no surprise /there/.
What you should care about is the horrible death experienced by an innocent, Ms. Aysha D. Ring, and the effects on her loved ones and friends. I cannot find very many people overly concerned about her -- certainly not attorneys, judges and others in the criminal justice and mental health systems who contribute to the occurrences of such travesties of justice.
Professor Vatz of Towson University is Associate Psychology Editor, USA Today Magazine and an editor of Current Psychology
11 comments:
I am glad Vatz is not a judge.
Quite right.
This murderer should DIE. There is no place in civilized society for these types of people.
As for Vatz, he is NOT a judge and is correct in his statements and anger over this case. It IS the judges who let these people out over and over again and this story is the results all too often.
Hey Vatz, I'm a former student of yours from 2005. While I do not share many of your conservative views I 100% echo your beliefs on insanity pleas. Aysha was actually a friend of mine from a while back and she was a great person. It's so cliche but she could light up a room. If this guy gets "off" on a plea of not knowing right from wrong it will be monumental injustice for Maryland.
NCR(not criminally responsible) pleas require an attorney to argue specific points:
i Some finding of mental disease or defect has been necessary
ii Once disease is shown, then the focus shifts to what the defendant was able to know
iii Ability of the defendant to know certain things (cognitive formula):
a Must be able to know the nature and quality of the act that was committed
b Must be able to know that the act was wrong.
If the defendant fails to know, it must be because the mental illness robbed the defendant of the capacity to know what normal people are able to know about their behavior
I am not sure what Vatz's issues are when both sides are able to present evidence to the Jury or Judge. NCR decisions are not handed out with little regard to the facts as the Prof. might lead one to believe.
"Some finding of mental disease or defect has been necessary"
Could it not be argued that anyone who kills in cold blood is not of full mental capability?
Wind river,
even if it were the case that a cold-blood killing indicates a mental defect, and arguably it does not always, the other elements I listed must be satisfied in order for a finding of NCR.
On the Aysha Ring murder, I want to discuss the politics of geography. Most news reports said that the crime occurred in Catonsville. But that's not true. This was on Baltimore National Pike, just past the city neighborhoods of Ten Hills and West Hills and directly in West Edmondale. Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and U.S. rep. Elijah Cummings supposedly live right around the corner. Catonsville, to be sure, ends at Ingleside Avenue, below the Baltimore National Pike. If anything, news reporters could have referred to the crime scene as being on the edge of the city, most definitely near predominantly-black Westview and/or Woodlawn. The murderer was black, his victim white, and Westview and Woodlawn are worlds apart from mostly white working-class Catonsville when it comes to safety. So why are media types putting this horrific crime in Catonsville? Shall they just tell the truth, that this woman was murdered around the corner from the homes of two high-profile liberal Afro-American politicians?
Thank you.
What are you trying to imply ? What are the politics of geography as it pertains to race--which you seem to be fixated upon with regard to this matter.
Fred,
No fixation here.
Just wanted to clarify that where the Ring murder occurred was on the wrong side of the tracks from Catonsville, just like Pigtown is to Ridgely's Delight, as is O'Donnell Heights to Graceland Park, and what was once the hellhole at Hollander Ridge from Rosedale. One cannot and should not "blend" these areas when making news reports.
Tragically, this corridor of West Baltimore leading into Baltimore County where Ring was murdered
has been the general location of several vicious incidents in recent years committed by black thugs against white women, including Jane Tyson and Yvette Beakes.
My fixation (if any) may be focused on why we are not hearing the term HATE CRIME and besides that, what are the local community leaders including Rep. Cummings and Mayor Dixon doing to dispatch the horrible reputation right in their own backyard?
Now, there's a story for our geographically challenged media!
You nkow if you look at this murderers past, he starts out with a cahrge of having weed on him, the he starts to rob people, and now he has taken the innocent life of my good friend Aysha. After he robbed people he should have been thrown in jail and maybe he would not have been out in time to take somones life... This boy knew what he was doing. My girlfreind walked into the store passed him to buy a bag of chips and then he came back in while she was waiting to make a purchase and he slit her throat. If anything I think that the death penalty is so nice for what he deserves. He deserves to be standing in a store without saying goodbye to his loved ones and have his throat slit...
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