The Taxi defence
Nicholas von Hoffman
Washington
On the evening of 15 February 1933 a little man, with chronic ulcers and wild ideas, pulled a gun from his pocket and emptied its chambers in the direction of President-elect Franklin Roosevelt. By the time Giuseppe Zangara had finished discharging his bullets into the Miami night he had wounded five people, one of whom, the mayor of Chicago, was to die in a few days' time. On 20 March 1933 Zangara, strapped into an electric chair, shouted at the sheriff of Date County, Florida, 'Push the button.' The sheriff did and Mr Zangara perished.
On 30 March 1981, John W. Hinckley, Jr, emptied the contents of a revolver in the direction of Ronald Reagan, wounding the President and three others. To this day he has not been convicted of anything. More than a year after his assassination attempt he was brought to trial, a legal process which has been grinding time, money and patience for nearly three months now.
The difference in the disposition of the Zangara and Hinckley cases is attributed by some to the heavy-footed forward march of progress; for others it is but the latest mad- dening use of psychiatry and other branches of medicine to shield malefactors from the rigour and force of the law. The Hinckley case also shows it matters not how highly placed the victim of the crime may be. If the perpetrator has enough money to buy the expert witnesses, he can keep himself out of jail or shorten the duration of his visit. It is estimated that Hinckley's parents will have paid more than a million dollars to lawyers and doctors to get their son off.
A few years ago a former San Francisco police officer who did not agree with the policies and politics of the mayor walked in- to his office and murdered him. After which he went down the corridor and murdered another elected official, a man who had been put into office by the suffrage of the city's homosexuals. Hyperthermic anti-homosexual elements helped with the murderer's defence which was that, as a result of overdosing on sugar by consuming too many Twinkies (a sweet, cream-filled cup-cake manufactured by ITT), the killer had what the lawyers call 'diminished capacity', and should, therefore, only be convicted of manslaughter. The Twinkie defence, as it has come to be known, was successful and the assassin was sentenced to a few years in jail. He will be released shortly.
In the past few months two books have been published about the case of Richard Herrin, the Yale University student who, jilted by his co-ed girl friend, took a claw hammer and emptied the contents of her skull on to her pillow. After a 'crusade of compassion' was begun on his behalf the court took his humble beginnings in the Los Angeles Mexican-American quarter into ac- count and, citing his 'extreme emotional disturbance,' acquitted him of murder. He too was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Why should we not expect crazy people to obey the laws? Most nuts are able to restrain themselves, and in fact the people who do fly off the handle, the perpetrators of true crimes of passion, are generally ad- judged to be sane persons who happened to have a very sub-par day, not madmen hav- ing a normal one.
In the Hinckley case any number of doc- tors of psychiatry and abnormal psychology, all dauntingly credentialled by impressive institutions, have testified that
the defendant should not be held accoun-
table for his actions. Their examination of young Hinckley showed that he was
stricken with schizophrenia cinematica after seeing the film Taxi. He identified so com- pletely with the film's homicidal pro- tagonist that he fell in love with the ingenue who played the part of a 12-year-old hooker. To impress the actress Hinckley, with no little planning and malice aforethought, invented and carried out a plan to assassinate the President. (C°. incidentally, Giuseppe Zangara was al so preoccupied with the films. When taken to his place of execution he looked about and said: `No cameramen? No movie to take picture of Zangara? No one here take ntY picture — all capitalists lousy bunch of crooks.') Is the story which Hinckley told the ex- amining physicians any crazier than, Zangara's explanation to his interrogators', Zangara, who was a member of no political party, no organisation whatsoever, wh was a morbid loner, told his questioners: '; want to kill all capitalists ... Because oti capitalists, people get no bread • • • this way since I 14 years old . • • 1 1;„..1 stomach pains since I six years old . • • I have a right to kill him [Roosevelt] • was right. I know they give me eleetrIc chair, but I don't care ... I right.' Despite the argument that to do so give in to anti-intellectual no-nothingisul' states have begun to pass laws removing the insanity plea from the statute books. It re- mains to be seen if the appellate courts 'NI" knock out the laws by a process of constitu- tional divination which enables them to legislate for today by scrutinising 18th- century parchments. Whatever the outcome, a revolt of sorts is on, but can one challenge the influence' power and wealth of professions lu; psychiatry? They were hatched ill the universities, for the most part in t decades after World War II. In outer aspect _ they resemble the real sciences and crafts III that they have their own work jargon, Pro- fessional fessional societies, customary practices, " vanced university degrees, revered foondl°,,g pioneers and the other paraphernalia col': noting accomplishment. What they lack iScl substantive field of knowledge, toolsflm technique, save those of humbug and flam. The schools turn out tens d thousands holding masters' degrees all doctorates in business administratio; guidance counselling, derrnatology, personal group relations, art thera17,,Pc psychiatry p ychisateou rycics tioarocscaufpeatyanns.d hundreds other u' rice Like crab grass and bamboo, once Like they are next to impossible to Plb, out and destroy. They silt into institutionea" machinery of every kind. At best, make the easy tasks difficult and rout.0"` ones expensive and slow. At worst, tti enable murderers to walk free and bring trir ,"; essential housekeeping work of a modern nation to a near-standstill.
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