Brantley Hargrove brings us the sordid story of Seth Winder, the man accused of brutally murdering and dismembering his lover, Richard Hernandez, in 2008. The case received plenty of national attention. First, detectives working the case appeared on the A&E show The First 48. Then Winder’s stepmother wrote a book about him “slipping into madness.” But Winder’s attorney, knowing how rarely an insanity defense works, decided to go to trial. Hargrove was there, and points out that the justice system is now faced with a Catch 22 of sorts.
“Winder is a paranoid schizophrenic, and without antipsychotic medication he is too insane to be prosecuted. But with medication he becomes someone else entirely, capable even of calm rationality. He would have to be induced into a state of synthetic sanity before he could stand trial for a crime that he allegedly committed while unmedicated.”
If you haven’t seen the cover of this week’s Observer, it’s pretty bizarre. But the story is an interesting read.
1 comment
Yes, it is a bizarre story. This state needs to learn how to handle the mentally ill before it gets to this point. And if nothing else, figure out how to handle truly mentally ill inmates like Seth Winder.