Is Moussaoui Competent?
by KevinMarch 30th, 2006
It appears the Moussaoui, when he testified, very likely made up his part in the 9/11 plots. That does not surprise me in the least. Moussaoui has given every indication of being, at best, a fanatic desperate to be executed so that he can become a martyr, with all that implies to an Islamic fundamentalist. Let’s assume that is what he wants — to die and thus become a martyr. Does that make him mentally incompetent? We would not treat the word of a clinically depressed person in a similar situation, and those people, too, wish to die. The only fundamental difference is the reason for wanting to die. In one case, it is an end to pain. In the other, it is a form of religious devotion. But doesn’t that devotion interfere with a person’s ability to make rational decisions? Is someone in the grip of a kind of religious ecstasy really entirely mentally competent? I am not trying to argue that religion is a mental illness, but we recognize when emotions and chemical imbalances render someone less than fully competent. If “heat of the moment”, meaning an irrational act based upon overwhelming and temporary emotional distress, can be used to forestall a first degree murder conviction, then why cannot religious ecstasy?
Categories: Legal Issues |
Test
No offense, this is only meant to be helpful.
It’s competent (no “a”).
Thank you
I don’t believe the following argument, but it’s an interesting idea:
Presumably he wants to become a martyr to get the acclaim, status, and virgins (or raisins, depending on the translation you choose) promised for the next world. That sounds like a reasonable basis for a diminished responsibility claim. So by denying that claim would the court be allowing that these things will happen, i.e. that Islam is true?