» Entries tagged with "suicide"

In Defense of Compassion

Elie Mystal put up something yesterday at Above the Law about the lawyer on leave from her job as an associate court attorney at the Manhattan Supreme Court who jumped to her death from her apartment with her 10-month-old son strapped to her in a baby carrier. Her son survived, thankfully. She did not. Elie said he didn’t want to use the restraint or show the sympathy for suicide “victims” (his quotation marks) that he apparently feels society requires and expects of him. What he wrote was certainly consistent with that: Screw this woman…. After noting her likely unsupported feelings that something was medically wrong with her child and the fact she wrote in her suicide note that what she was about to do was “evil,” Elie continued: Damn straight she … Read entire article »

Filed under: Mental Health

Power Over Life And Death

A brilliant young man killed himself. The defendant in a federal prosecution for downloading nearly 5 million articles from an organization whose mission is “to foster widespread access to the world’s body of scholarly knowledge,” his situation was clearly more than he could bear. The “victim” settled all civil claims against him this past summer after he returned the data he had in his possession. The government went ahead with prosecution anyway, reasoning as follows: Stealing is stealing, whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars. His family’s statement contained the following: Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Aaron and his family learned in the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Prosecutors

Our Delicate Sensibilities

There were two big car chases yesterday. One in Los Angeles ended in an arrest: One near Phoenix…not so much: The suspect in Arizona committed suicide, and the news apparently regrets the fact it didn’t cut before airing the dirty deed on live television. I’d rather not watch that stuff, but I’d rather not watch the news either. The people of Texas killed a guy earlier this week. Five days earlier, they killed another. The people of Ohio killed one that very same day. Texas also killed a guy in August, but they weren’t alone. Oklahoma did too. More importantly, so did Arizona. The good people of our fair state pumped a man full of drugs until he died. The demure little flowers whose delicate sensibilities … Read entire article »

Filed under: Death Penalty, News

Looking for a Lesson

You’ve probably heard about what happened with Michael Marin. It’s not every day that a Mormon grandfather and amateur pilot, a former Wall Street trader, Japanese business executive, and graduate of Yale Law School who also climbed Mount Everest and collected works by Picasso, supposedly kills himself in court with a poisoned pill after being convicted of arson for burning down his mansion and narrowly escaping in a scuba suit. You can find more background here if you’re interested. On top of its general bizarreness, the whole thing brings up some fascinating issues. Michael Marin presumably killed himself because of the verdict. Had the jury found him not guilty, he would have probably gone out to celebrate. Although I have not looked into the specifics of … Read entire article »

Filed under: Prosecutors

That's Just What They Need

Waiting for a visit at the federal correctional facility in Florence earlier today, I noticed a poster on the wall. Maybe it’s been there for a while, but I’d never noticed it before. It’s a black poster that says “ZERO TOLERANCE” in big, neon green letters. Next to that, I noticed it said something about suicide prevention. I quickly realized it was a poster informing viewers that the facility had a zero tolerance policy when it comes to suicide. There must be something wrong with me, as I found the poster amusing. It took me a second to put my finger on just why that was. Maybe CCA intended to have zero tolerance when it comes to employees who facilitate suicide among inmates, but if … Read entire article »

Filed under: Government Rants, jail

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