Voices made me do it.
Posted by Matt Dioguardi on February 19th, 2008
Mentally ill child-killer gets 22 years in prison
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According to the ruling, Ujiie stole a knife at an Ito-Yokado Co. supermarket in Anjo at around 10:40 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2005. He then stabbed to death 11-month-old Shoma Aoyama of Okazaki in the prefecture, who was in a baby buggy near his mother around the children’s clothing section. Ujiie also kicked and injured the boy’s 6-year-old sister and a 27-year-old woman nearby.
Oh. But he didn’t mean to do this. He wasn’t in his right mind. There were voices in his head that told him to do this, but he didn’t really want to do it. So he gets only 22 years as opposed to 30 years.
I don’t like capital punishment. The danger is so great that an innocent could be killed, and I could never really accept that. But a man killing a baby in cold blood? I might have to rethink my opinion on this.
I’ve been to that specific Ito-Yokado more than a few times, though never with my children. I did often take one of my children to an Ito-Yokado in a near by town, when he was a toddler.
I don’t believe in the insanity plea for several reasons. One reason is because issues like guilt should not be up to pseudo-scientific experts of the mind. In a certain sense, we’re all crazy.
There’s no question that he committed the crime, so there shouldn’t be too much debate over what punishment he deserves.