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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2004)
'~"V nation ATTAIN ou !ast 4* t Attorney general: Insanity standard needs to be reformed he Percent 3tailer$ ! sales >nth last yeas osefromstaes •porting peflo® etatetshaveh :et expected percent. 1 with a II n same-flo* analysts N cent increase percent, reported a i; n same-sto elow the 41 )tal sales rose in 01 II decided on tood. ement later missal, and iho was sen- tind bars for *d. is of raping NATION IHE BATTALION 9A Friday, May 7, 2004 AUSTIN (AP) — Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott told a Senate committee Thursday liat the state’s insanity standard needs to be donned, citing the case of a Beaumont man :harged with murder for placing a 6-year-old in in oven. “Our current laws in how we deal with the mminally insane have failed,” Abbott said. “A life Has needlessly lost because of the way our system »orks or perhaps didn’t work.” Kenneth Pierott was found not guilty by reason 27o^i If insanity in 1998 for using a dumbbell to fatally ' jeat his 25-year-old sister, who suf- from cerebral palsy. He was (leased after four months in a state iospital. "Last month, Mr. Pierott put his jrlfriend’s 6-year-old son in the oven, limed the heat up to 6(X) degrees and eft the boy to die,” Abbott said. The pilot light wasn’t on in the jvenso it didn’t heat, but the child edof asphyxiation. Abbott also pointed to the case of iast Texas mother De*anna Laney, dtowas found not guilty by reason jfinsanity in the stoning deaths of of her sons. A judge has com- nitted her to a state hospital at least (trough July A life was needlessly lost because of the way our system works or perhaps didn't work. — Greg Abbott Texas attorney general “The public is justifiably suspect about a system fiat allows an insane killer to go free,” Abbott said. Changes must be made to existing laws ... What re need is a system that allows the state to contin- iitosupervise dangerous, mentally ill criminals.” Dr. Mary Alice Conroy, speaking on behalf of the Texas Psychological Association, said cases such as Pierott’s aren’t the norm. She said about two-thirds of defendants found innocent by reason of insanity have not committed a vio lent crime. James Smith, chief executive officer of the North Texas State Hospital, which cares for those acquitted based on insanity, said the Legislature needs to address what happens to the acquitted once they leave the hospital. “My experience has been that it is possible to lose track of them fairly quickly,” he said. Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said Smith’s observation is less than comforting. Wentworth’s Jurisprudence Committee is review ing the state’s insanity statute and the issues surrounding it. Smith would like to see the state mdve toward allowing a person acquitted based on insanity to be recommitted if they fail to follow certain conditions of their release, such as taking their medication. “With that type of setup, some of the situations that break all of our hearts would not have occurred,” he said. As of Tuesday, Smith said 67 people being cared for at state hospitals had been acquitted by reason of insanity. While some at the public hearing called for the verdict to be changed to “guilty but insane” or "guilty except mentally ill,” Smith said there is a system in place in the state’s prisons to deal with mentally ill inmates. NEWS IN BRIEF Tombstone of Jasper man found desecrated JASPER, Texas (AP) — The javesite of a black man who was dragged to death in 1998 by three white men was found dese crated Thursday, police said. A racial epithet was carved into the broken tombstone of James Byrd Jr. Jasper Police Chief Stanley Christopher told Beaumont televi sion station KFDM that that the as case is being investigated criminal mischief. So far no arrests, Christopher said. Three white men were convict ed for Byrd’s gruesome death. Two were sent to Texas death row, while the third received a life prison term. The victim’s mother, Stella Byrd, said the family was upset that the gravesite had been disturbed. "I don’t know what to think about it,” Mrs. Byrd said. “They’ve done enough to him already. I don’t think it’s kids who did this. It’s upsetting. We hoped he could rest in peace.” Two people who were at the Jasper City Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, tending to a relative’s gravesite, noticed the damage, police said. The desecration apparently happened in the past couple of days, according to Christopher. The granite headstone, putting Byrd's date of birth as May 2, 1949, was broken from its base, according to KFDM. Jasper is about 110 miles northeast of Houston. NEW SHIPMENT OF LOOSE DIAMONDS! ROUND DIAMONDS PRINCESS CUT DIAMONDS 1.44 K VVSi 3950 00 2.23 H VS, I4500 00 EGL Cert. I.357 D SI, 7250 00 EGL Cert. 1.56 1 VS, 6900 00 1.27 G Sl 2 4900 00 EGL Cert. 1.00 G vs. 5460°° EGL Cert. 1.06 F S, 3 2900 00 EGL Cert. .9, E Sl 2 3400 00 1.04 M ws 2 2475 00 EGL Cert. .90 G vs 2 Sl 2 3450°° EGL Cert. 1.03 H vs 2 . 4575 00 .90 1 2500°° EGL Cert. 1.002 J vs 2 2900°° EGL Cert .87 F si. 3 1 00 00 EGL Cert. 1.00 H s u 43 50°° EGL Cert. .82 F vs 2 3075°° .95 1 vs, Sl 2 vs. 3450 00 EGL Cert. .73 E vs 2 2920 00 EGL Cert. .92 .92 G H 43 27°° IDEAL CUT EGL Cert. 3875 00 EGL Cert. .71 .70 H H vs 2 vs 2 2270 00 EGL Cert 2 1 00 00 EGL Cert. .90 .88 .86 .83 .80 1 G 1 H F 512 Sii Sl| 51 3 SI, 2500 00 EGL Cert. # 2700 00 EGL Cert. 2250 00 EGL Cert. 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