Autism Defense Again

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After weeks of stonewalling reporters, Heroic’s CSGO team has released an emotional 35-minute defence of the players’ and org’s actions following the revelations that their former coach, Nicolai “Hunden” Petersen, was using a bug to get an unfair advantage in competition.

Coaches were allowed into CSGO servers during competitive play as a special accommodation during the pandemic. Normally at LAN events they’d be standing behind the players, not allowed to speak to them unless there’s a timeout.

Initially Hunden had said the Heroic players knew nothing of him using the coach bug. But after things got very, very messy (see below) he stated that certain Heroic players were in fact aware of it, and provided evidence with varying degrees of weight.

Up until now the players had agreed to remain silent as the matter was investigated by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC).

But after Hunden’s more recent statements, public sentiment has turned against Heroic. According to the video, it got to the stage where players were afraid to go out with friends and family for fear of being approached and called a cheater. (CSGO is very popular in Denmark, enough that top players are recognised on the street.)

What you’re seeing there is team captain Casper “Cadian” Moller in the middle, who’s a little older and more storied in the CSGO scene, eventually flanked by star players Rene “TeSeS” Madsen on the left, and Martin “stavn” Lund on the right. TeSeS in particular is implicated in the scandal after Hunden said TeSeS helped him get the bug working before a particular match.

In TeSeS’ words:

I was treated immensely badly by Hunden. He has f****d my whole reputation, which I have worked for my whole life. All of a sudden, the whole community is after me for something I didn’t do. I have sacrificed so much to be where I am today. It definitely hurt and still hurts me that Hunden accused me of something I didn’t do.


From the ESIC report:
Mr. Kristensen has ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome. Upon consulting with the ADHD and Asperger’s Team at the National Autistic Society and the ADHD Foundation, ESIC was informed that this would have significantly impacted his ability to know right from wrong, make values-based decisions on his own and communicate effectively in a conventional way. Mr. Kristensen is heavily dependent on the people he trusts. He is naïve and, by his own admission in conjunction with the objective evidence collated in the course of the investigation and enquiries (see 13.1.1) into the implications of his conditions, trusts too easily.

A man convicted of sexual contact with a 13-year-old has failed in a bid to get his record wiped clean because of his autism.

Auckland man Caleb Benjamin Judd​ was 26 years old when he offended against the girl in 2009.

He was convicted in Auckland District Court of two counts of engaging in sexual conduct with a young person and sentenced to 12 months’ home detention.

Prior to sentencing, Judd was seen by a clinical psychologist, Sabine Visser,​ who diagnosed him with Asperger’s Syndrome – a form of autism spectrum disorder.

She found Judd had “limited social abilities and extremely high levels of anxiety”, according to court documents.

Judd was highly intelligent and did not have an intellectual disability, she found.

“His difficulties lie in social situations that make him very uncomfortable and lead him to take a passive or submissive stance when dealing with others.”

Visser also diagnosed him with major depression and anxiety disorders.

Judd, who has now served his sentence, appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeal.

If you asked me a few months ago I would have argued that the Autism Defense was an non issue but lately I have read about a number of such cases.

Thanks for keeping an eye on this and all the other things you do.

btw, the New Zealand sex offender above - wouldnt it be more common for aspie types to thrive in the Courtroom, as long as they had time to prepare, and werent taken advantage of by somebody triggering them to yell all crazy like, ect.?

A man who targeted the Jewish community by wearing T-shirts supporting proscribed Palestinian groups has been banned from NW11 in north London.

Feras Al Jayoosi, 34, from Swindon in Wiltshire, was spotted on 8 and 9 June wearing the T-shirts in Golders Green, which has a large Jewish population.

The harm he caused by his actions "was high", the court heard.

Al Jayoosi admitted four terrorism charges and was given a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Westminster Magistrates' Court was told Al Jayoosi had autism and Asperger's, which reduced his culpability.

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said: "You had multiple warnings that the path you were taking - the organisations you sought out to align yourself with - would get you into trouble, but you carried on."

Both groups are proscribed as terrorist organisations in the UK.

Florida man Logan William Smith has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to strangle a jogger on Sunday, police said

According to the Florida newspaper, investigators with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office called the attack "calculated." Authorities said Smith first noticed the jogger about six weeks ago, though it was not clear why Smith targeted the man.

The authorities said Smith hid behind a light pole, armed with a rubber mallet, an Axe aerosol deodorant can and a belt, WESH 2 News reported. When the jogger, who has not been named, ran past the light pole, Smith reportedly attempted to strangle him with the belt.

According to an arrest report, Deputy Carson Hendren said Smith had planned to drag the jogger's body onto a bed sheet he laid on a nearby driveway then to place the body in his closet "where the defendant stated no one would know, and the defendant could have the victim's body all to himself," according to Florida Today.

In the arrest report, Smith said he was motivated to ambush the jogger after watching a violent movie, though records did not specify which movie, Florida Today added.

In a statement sent to Newsweek public defender Blaise Trettis, who is representing Smith, said Smith might have a neurological disorder.

“The bizarre facts as alleged in the probable cause arrest report indicate an underlying neurological problem and some information has been received that Mr. Smith may suffer from an autism spectrum disorder such as Asperger syndrome," Trettis said.

A California man and political conservative was allegedly so mad at the dictionary definitions for “Boy,” “Girl,” “Female,” and “Trans Woman” that he threatened extreme violence against Merriam-Webster and forced that company’s offices to be closed for nearly a week.

Jeremy David Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, Calif., was charged by federal authorities in Boston with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence early this month. Court documents in the case were unsealed by a federal judge earlier this week after the defendant was arrested on April 19, 2022.

According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Hanson submitted “various threatening communications” through Merriam-Webster’s “Contact Us” page and via the comments section for the online dictionary’s entries for “Girl” and “Woman” in October 2021.

For seven days, federal authorities allege, the defendant “expressed hostility toward different gender identities” and “threatened bodily harm to people” by way of his user account, @anonYmous.

Jeremy David Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, Calif., was charged by federal authorities in Boston with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence early this month. Court documents in the case were unsealed by a federal judge earlier this week after the defendant was arrested on April 19, 2022.

According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Hanson submitted “various threatening communications” through Merriam-Webster’s “Contact Us” page and via the comments section for the online dictionary’s entries for “Girl” and “Woman” in October 2021.

For seven days, federal authorities allege, the defendant “expressed hostility toward different gender identities” and “threatened bodily harm to people” by way of his user account, @anonYmous.

During the same seven-day period last October, Merriam-Webster said it received two direct threats against its offices from an anti-Marxist email account. Federal authorities attributed those threats to Hanson.

According to his mother, the defendant “suffers from developmental disorders, including autism, and is unable to reason through the consequences of making statements that could be construed as threats” and he was likely recently triggered by the “stresses of the coronavirus, and recent changes to medication.”

Some of those threats targeted DC Comics for that company’s decision to make its latest iteration of the popular Superman character bisexual — and a pop culture website that simply reported on the news.

Additional comments attributed to the defendant include various anti-gay slurs.

In a subsequent FBI interview, Hanson allegedly admitted to making the comments about the new Superman’s sexual orientation to DC Comics and IGN. The defendant told agents he suffers from “obsessive-compulsive disorder, Aspergers, anxiety, and depression” as well as “impulse control.”

16-year-old boy downloaded bomb-making manuals and threatened to target a synagogue after he began playing Fortnite.

The autistic teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was pictured wearing a mask with swastikas on, making a white power symbol and doing a Nazi salute. He was arrested at his home in Bootle, on May 28 last year after authorities in the US were alerted to a post on Twitter which said: "I am a domestic terror threat. I will bomb a synagogue."

Liverpool Youth Court heard on Wednesday, April 27, that the boy also searched Google for "nearest synagogue to me". Prosecutor Diana Wilson said when the boy, then 15, was arrested he told his mum: "It was a joke."

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said it was some of the "most appalling behaviour by a young person" he had seen during his 23 years working in the criminal justice system. However, he said "a non-custodial sentence would be in the public interest" and handed the boy a 12-month intensive referral order.

The court heard that downloads were also found on the teenager's devices for weapons handbooks. Ms Wilson, prosecuting, said: "In essence, all of these documents are lengthy, difficult to obtain, detailed descriptions of how to make bombs."

She also described numerous social media posts which were antisemitic, racist, transphobic, homophobic and reflected an incel ideology. Gerard Pitt, defending, said the boy was introduced to a far-right community online after he began playing video game Fortnite, where he could speak to fellow gamers in virtual "hangouts".

Mr. Pitt said: "He found it much easier to form relationships with people in these Fortnite hangouts and subsequently on Twitter than he did in real life, because of his autism."

Mr Pitt said the boy began "making his own content" in 2020 and would screenshot messages, documents and Google searches. But, he said there was no evidence the boy had actually tried to build a bomb or search for the ingredients to do so.

The court heard the boy pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possessing a document containing information useful to terrorism, two counts of racial hatred - distributing a visual/sound recording, three counts of publishing material to stir up racial hatred and one count of sending by a public communication network an offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message.

Mr Pitt told the court the boy, who had possessed a "very large library" of far-right material, said he no longer held the same views after time away from the online community. Sentencing, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said: "Virtually every minority group that exists you had something derogatory to say about.

Mr Goldspring told the boy: "It is the scale, scope and nature of your hatred for fellow men and women. In fact my heart sank when I read the case papers for the first time."

However, Mr Goldspring said he believed imposing a custodial term would be inappropriate and could undo rehabilitative steps which had been made.

A 16-year-old boy downloaded bomb-making manuals and threatened to target a synagogue after he began playing Fortnite.

The autistic teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was pictured wearing a mask with swastikas on, making a white power symbol and doing a Nazi salute. He was arrested at his home in Bootle, on May 28 last year after authorities in the US were alerted to a post on Twitter which said: "I am a domestic terror threat. I will bomb a synagogue."

Liverpool Youth Court heard on Wednesday, April 27, that the boy also searched Google for "nearest synagogue to me". Prosecutor Diana Wilson said when the boy, then 15, was arrested he told his mum: "It was a joke."

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said it was some of the "most appalling behaviour by a young person" he had seen during his 23 years working in the criminal justice system. However, he said "a non-custodial sentence would be in the public interest" and handed the boy a 12-month intensive referral order.

The court heard that downloads were also found on the teenager's devices for weapons handbooks. Ms Wilson, prosecuting, said: "In essence, all of these documents are lengthy, difficult to obtain, detailed descriptions of how to make bombs."

She also described numerous social media posts which were antisemitic, racist, transphobic, homophobic and reflected an incel ideology. Gerard Pitt, defending, said the boy was introduced to a far-right community online after he began playing video game Fortnite, where he could speak to fellow gamers in virtual "hangouts".

Mr. Pitt said: "He found it much easier to form relationships with people in these Fortnite hangouts and subsequently on Twitter than he did in real life, because of his autism."

Mr Pitt said the boy began "making his own content" in 2020 and would screenshot messages, documents and Google searches. But, he said there was no evidence the boy had actually tried to build a bomb or search for the ingredients to do so.

The court heard the boy pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possessing a document containing information useful to terrorism, two counts of racial hatred - distributing a visual/sound recording, three counts of publishing material to stir up racial hatred and one count of sending by a public communication network an offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message.

Mr Pitt told the court the boy, who had possessed a "very large library" of far-right material, said he no longer held the same views after time away from the online community. Sentencing, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said: "Virtually every minority group that exists you had something derogatory to say about.

Mr Goldspring told the boy: "It is the scale, scope and nature of your hatred for fellow men and women. In fact my heart sank when I read the case papers for the first time."

However, Mr Goldspring said he believed imposing a custodial term would be inappropriate and could undo rehabilitative steps which had been made.

The circumstantial evidence against Nathan Carman had been lying in plain sight for years before his surprising indictment and arrest this month on allegations he killed his mother at sea off New England in a plot to inherit millions of dollars.

Federal prosecutors in Vermont are not commenting on the timing of their decision to put the case before a grand jury, and the indictment offers no clues and no new information on the case, which included a dramatic rescue at sea and the suspicious deaths of two members of a wealthy New England family.

The circumstantial evidence against Nathan Carman had been lying in plain sight for years before his surprising indictment and arrest this month on allegations he killed his mother at sea off New England in a plot to inherit millions of dollars.

Federal prosecutors in Vermont are not commenting on the timing of their decision to put the case before a grand jury, and the indictment offers no clues and no new information on the case, which included a dramatic rescue at sea and the suspicious deaths of two members of a wealthy New England family.

The grand jury indictment accuses Carman, 28, of Vernon, Vermont, of murder and fraud in the killing of his mother, Linda Carman, during a fishing trip that began in Rhode Island. Carman made international headlines when he was found alone in a life raft near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, eight days after he and his mother left port.

The indictment also accuses him of fatally shooting his millionaire grandfather, John Chakalos, in 2013 in Connecticut, but does not charge him with that killing. He has repeatedly denied any involvement in both deaths.

Federal prosecutors say their deaths paved the way for Carman to inherit an estimated $7 million -- his mother's share of Chakalos' estate. The inheritance remains tied up in probate court in Connecticut, where his mother's three sisters are seeking to bar Carman from receiving any money from his grandfather's estate.

Prosecutors cited the violence and planning involved in the two killings and his apparent lack of ties to his community -- a factor in bail arguments. They said he has little personal interaction with other people, having alienated his family because of his conduct.

They also said he discontinued the mental health treatment he had received from early childhood until he was 17. They wrote that Carman was diagnosed with potential mood and psychotic disorders in 2011, and that he had a history of hostility and aggression.

Carman and his relatives also have said he has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism that can be characterized by social awkwardness and repetitive behavior but is not associated with an increased likelihood of violence.

Carman has said he is misunderstood and an easy target for police because he has Asperger's.

A pervert who downloaded more than 9,000 images of children being abused was spared prison because he has Asperger’s.

Kevin Cornes, 35, of Ascot Avenue, Runcorn, reportedly shook with anxiety in the dock for much of the hearing at Chester Crown Court on Monday as he appeared to learn his fate. Paedophile Cornes spoke to confirm he had pleaded guilty at magistrates’ court on May 6 to three counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing an indecent image of a child, the latter charge covering all 9,177 images.

Three devices were “significant”, showing Cornes had downloaded 1,259 Category A images - the worst type, 1,234 in Category B, and 6,694 Category C, totalling 9,177 images. File names suggested the ages of the children ranged between three and 13 years old.

Mr Mintz said the “vast majority” were still images and 103 were videos.

2022. Mr Mintz said Cornes had a similar conviction from 2015 for making indecent images when he received a three-year community order, which expired in 2018, and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to run until 2025.

He said the sentencing range for making Category A images was six months to three years.

Katy Laverty, defending, said Cornes was a “young man who suffers autism and Asperger’s”, which she said explained “part of the offending behaviour”, which was “of a repetitive nature”.

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She argued her client should be spared an immediate prison sentence.

Ms Laverty said: “He doesn’t seek to minimise his actions or place blame elsewhere.

“He’s ashamed of what he’s done and wants to change.”

She said Cornes said he had been “traumatised” by personal experiences during his life and now felt he had “opened up” about these, and was “fully motivated” to comply with whatever probation asked of him because he “understands this is a last opportunity”.

Ms Laverty added Cornes had abstained from alcohol, had “a number of difficulties” including depression and anxiety and had attempted to take his own life.

He was also “absolutely terrified” of prison.

Recorder Everett said the court faced a “difficult sentencing exercise”.

He branded abuse images a “terrible thing”, but said a short prison sentence wouldn’t mitigate any longer term risk posed to the public by Cornes.

With reference to a probation report and the guidelines for custodial and community sentences, he concluded there was a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

He said he “accepted” Cornes had a “very troubling history both by you and against you”, and that “to an extent” due to his Asperger's, Cornes did “not have the same kind of control as people who don’t suffer it”.

The judge sentenced Cornes to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He also ordered the 35-year-old to complete up to 60 days of rehabilitation, the maximum available, including the Horizon sex offender programme, alongside a 10-year SHPO and 10 years on the sex offender register.

Recorder Everett said: “The pre-sentence report shows a very troubling history, both by you and against you, but most particularly the fact that you suffer with Asperger’s and I’m well aware of what that means and I’m well aware of the issues that causes.”

Commenting on the charges, Recorder Everett said abuse victims in the images, “if they lived”, will have been “scarred for life”

There’s one issue some parents with autistic children are having to face – the condition being used as an excuse for criminality or bad behaviour

That’s the case for mum Renée White, who says she is sick of people using autism as a “get out of jail free card”, the Manchester Evening News reports. Renée, whose 23-year-old son Aidan has autism, thinks people using the condition as an 'excuse' reflects unfairly on the majority of people with an autistic spectrum disorder.

“Pretty much every week there is some story in the press or on a real-life drama with mention of someone being on the spectrum and using it as part of their defence,” the 45-year-old said. It’s just constant now; you can’t go a week without hearing it being used as a defence, that’s always a bother because in a typical person’s psyche, somewhere along the way, they’re going to link autism and criminal behaviour and people on the spectrum are generally not criminals.

Fareham child pervert Conner Harcourt, 29, was back at Portsmouth Crown Court after being caught with graphic sex images of boys being abused.

Harcourt – a man with a self-declared sexual interest in children – was caught red handed when police were alerted to him falling foul of the law once again.

Officers turned up at his address and seized a mobile phone and a laptop when arresting him on October 28, 2020. Searches of the devices revealed 223 Category A images, 225 Category B and 132 Category C.

A baby less than a year old being raped was among the worst images.

Harcourt, of Valentine Close, was also found in breach of a previous order after failing to comply with notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order in April and May this year.

The defendant had failed to tell police of a Twitter account he had set-up in March which he sent a number of tweets from before stopping in April.

On the social media platform he urged users to ‘send me pervy’ and ‘illegal’ items.

Bridget O’Hagan, defending, said Harcourt had autism and aspergers which had impacted his offending behaviour.