Autism Defense Again

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I seriously cannot imagine killing my mother and also going to jail for a real long time or getting the death penalty.

The court would be told he had the same level of maturity as the young girls he encountered on the internet.

Altogether, the court was told, there were 15 children involved in the case, and 15 charges, with “50 or 60 counts”, as Judge Nolan put it.

No relatives of Horan’s were in court. Horan, Judge Nolan remarked, “meets criteria for autism spectrum disorder”, based on reports by forensic psychologists Anna Campbell and Dr Patrick Randall.

Mr.r Horan’s poor social skills limited his ability to develop normal relationships, which he desired.”

It was, he said, “a pretty sad case”. Horan had led “a very introverted and lonely life”, but in his actions “he has done a lot of damage”. He “exploited children in the most horrible way” and he knew “what he was doing was deeply wrong”.

Judge Nolan sentenced Horan to nine and a half years, suspending two years, “to give him some hope and some motivation to rehabilitate”.

He then asked a profound question, relevant to similar cases: “Can he be reformed?” The judge pondered on this issue and said: “Hopefully, with the right interventions, he can be reformed... At some point in his life he going to re-emerge from prison. He’s going to have to live in the community.”

The judge concluded by asking that inquiries be made as to “what regimes or interventions are available to reform and change, if at all possible, Mr Horan”.

A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service explained afterwards that treatment programmes for sex offenders were available at the Midlands and Arbour Hill prisons.

They are group-based and can take up to two years, usually towards the end of a long sentence, “for maximum impact”, he said, adding they can be “very, very challenging” for participants

A neo-Nazi's plan to attack people with a machete at a gay pride event was foiled after he told people about it on Facebook, a court heard.

Prosecutors said the "white supremacist" had a "deep-seated hatred" of minorities, especially gay people.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford, who described Mr Stables, of Egerton Court, as a neo-Nazi who supported Adolf Hitler, said the defendant intended to "launch a murderous attack" on various communities.

The jury heard that over seven months, Mr Stables researched weapons, including how to make his own explosives and firearms.

Mr Sandiford continued: "On 23 June (2017), the defendant became aware that the New Empire public house was going to host an LGBT event, a pride night, and he was enraged by that.

"He began to take photographs, reconnaissance of that public house with a view to launching an attack later that evening."

Mr Stables allegedly told members of a Nazi-themed Facebook chat group he planned to murder people at the pub - but one woman in Staffordshire who spotted the messages was so concerned she contacted police.

But in a statement to the jury, Patrick Upward QC, defending, said his client was not a white supremacist but more a "fantasist".

He said Mr Stables' posts were vile, but added: "He never expected anyone to believe what he had to say."

He also told the jury the defendant has Asperger's Syndrome, a favourite uncle who is openly gay and a best friend who is black.

Texas man is accused of murdering a man who had been camping in the Rollinsville foothills before driving all the way to Idaho in the dead man's van.

Jeffrey Mason Maynard, 26, is charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, aggravated robbery, two counts of identity theft, aggravated motor vehicle theft and misdemeanor theft in connection with the death of John Henry Cumby Jr., 62.

On Aug. 28, there was no activity on the cellphone. Then, on Aug. 29, the phone showed searches for articles on "how to plead insanity, how to act insane, fake being insane, how people fake insanity and give themselves away,insanity test, hospital for criminally insane, sociopath world, Aspergers as a defense, 10 uses of criminal defense, insanity and the death plea,

Zachary Welsh, 17, is accused of murdering his classmate, 18-year-old Austin Hensley, last month. Welsh also faces aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence charges.

Hyde pleaded not guilty on Welsh's behalf and requested a competency evaluation for Welsh.

"He has a severe mental defect, and he has a form of autism and he's been diagnosed since he's age 8," Hyde said.

Hyde said they want to explore whether that had anything to do with the alleged crimes.

"That's why we want a mental evaluation," Hyde said.

Prosecutors objected.

"Within the past year, the defendant has had a competency evaluation in this courtroom. He was deemed to be competent," Assistant Prosecutor Phil Yowler said.

An autistic ex-soldier who sexually abused two 13-year-old Illawarra girls he met through Facebook – and threatened to post intimate pictures of one of them online – will spend at least three years and three months behind bars.

Judge Andrew Haesler said Michael John Park, 24, had exploited the youth and naivety of his two victims with his “self-adsorbed” behaviour.

Wollongong District Court heard the two encounters occurred three years apart – the first in 2012 when Park was 19 and the second in 2016 when he was 22.

In the first case, Park molested the girl at his home after she agreed to meet him in person.

The court heard he manipulated his second victim by communicating with her over Facebook using a false name, eliciting an intimate photo of her then telling her she had to meet with a man named “Michael Park” or the picture would be posted online.

Once they met up, Park fondled the teen’s genitals as they sat in the back seat of his car.

Judge Andrew Haesler noted the young age of both the victims, however also accepted evidence contained in a psychological report that said Park’s diagnosis of autism meant he was emotionally immature.

The report said while Park was high functioning in some aspects of his life he struggled in other areas, including inter-personal relationships and suggested at the time of both offences he was “operating at the emotional level of a 15-year-old”.

Judge Haesler accepted that Park’s moral culpability was reduced as a result of his diminished mental capacity, but said the harm of suffering of both victims needed to be recognised when it came to imposing a sentencing.

However, he also found Park had good prospects of rehabilitation, was remorseful for the harm he’d caused the victims and had strong support from his family, who had attended all his court appearances.

Park’s lawyer confirmed during an earlier court appearance that her client had lost his job in the Australian Defence Forces as a result of the charges.

Judge Haesler imposed an overall sentence of five years and five months, which included a discount for Park’s early plea of guilty.

With time already served, Park will be eligible to be considered for parole in January 2020.

A 17-year-old boy who was "hours away from committing an act of atrocity" in Cardiff has been detained indefinitely and must serve at least 11 years.
Lloyd Gunton was arrested after researching the security arrangements of a Justin Bieber concert, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
The jury was told he plotted to commit mass murder in an Islamic State-inspired vehicle attack.
Police investigated after he uploaded terror-related social media posts.
Gunton, from near Llantrisant, south Wales, was arrested after he uploaded social media content to photo-sharing social media site Instagram in late June 2017 which promoted jihad and supported al-Qaeda.
The former A-level student, who has an autism diagnosis, had published images of terrorists, as well as pictures of the so-called Islamic State flag, and photos encouraging a terrorist attack in Cardiff.
Police found the password for the account was "truck attack".
One post read: "May Allah bring terrorism to Cardiff on 30th June."
He had researched how to carry out a vehicle ramming attack and how to stab and kill and had also looked into the security arrangements of the Justin Bieber concert in Cardiff's Principality Stadium.
His internet history included searches for "Isis beheading video", "how to create a terror attack" and "what does getting shot feel like".
When arrested, the teenager was found with a gutting knife and a hammer in his school rucksack, and the "martyrdom letter" said he was a "soldier of the Islamic state" and "more attacks will follow".
He was found guilty of one charge of engaging in the preparation of a terrorist act, two charges of encouraging terrorism, and a further two charges of possessing terrorist information.

The judge said Gunton's diagnosis of autism made him "something of a loner and someone more easily impressed by the things you read on the internet".
"Yours is not a condition from which you will recover," said Judge Wall.
"It is important that, having been tempted to commit a serious offence such as this, you are under some form of supervision for the rest of your life."

A self-styled "sugar daddy" who murdered an escort has failed in his bid to have his sentence reduced.

Multimillionaire Peter Morgan, 55, from Llanellen, Monmouthshire, strangled Georgina Symonds, 25, in January 2016.

His barrister Edward Fitzgerald QC told London's Appeal Court he had been treated too harshly.

But Lady Justice Hallett said Morgan's 25-year minimum term for enacting his "cold-blooded plan" was not "manifestly excessive".

At trial, Morgan told Newport Crown Court he had lost control after learning Ms Symonds was going to leave him, but jurors rejected his defence.

Morgan admitted killing her after officers traced her mobile phone to his farmhouse near Usk, Monmouthshire.

Despite saying "I done it" to police after arrest, he maintained he was not responsible for his actions due to Aspergers syndrome.

Throwing out his appeal, Lady Justice Hallett said judges accepted "there had been a background of severe provocation and that he had been seriously mistreated and blackmailed."

But, she added: "He put meticulous plans in place so as to escape the consequences of his actions. He didn't waver until it was too late.

"We are not persuaded that the sentence was in any way wrong in principle or manifestly excessive."

So aspies are now ret*ds now?

re·tard
verb
riˈtärd/Submit
1. delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment.
"his progress was ret*d by his limp"
synonyms: delay, slow down, slow up, hold back, hold up, set back, postpone, put back, detain, decelerate; More

Now?

Always have been.

What do you think Autism was called prior to the ~1950's?

Retardation. ret*d. ret*d.

And it's not factually incorrect terminology, either:



It's only become a politically incorrect word is all & words like "Autism," and phrases like "Pervasive Developmental Disorder," have replaced it in order to be nicer as well as more accurate as a variety of diagnoses have been more clearly understood and defined.

A man found with videos of Isis executions and a book giving instructions on how to make bombs developed an intense interest in the terrorist group and made videos calling for attacks on tyrants.

A recent Asperger's syndrome diagnosis was a big reason why Jordayne Evan Thomas Madams was not sent to jail for possessing the material.

He also made videos calling for attacks on "tyrants" and those who had attacked mosques in Canada and Texas – but was not charged with offences relating to them.

Madams was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court on Monday to six months' community detention and two years' intensive supervision for possessing child sex abuse videos and images, and terrorism material.

The material, found by police when they searched his house in November, included a text file of The Terrorist's Handbook, which gives instructions on how to assemble bombs and explosives.

He also had 68 images promoting Isis, and propaganda videos featuring prisoners having their throats cut and people being executed by gunfire.

Judge Stephanie Edwards said forensic psychiatrist Dr Justin Barry-Walsh found Madams suffered from Asperger's syndrome.

He has had previous interest in other religions. As part of that he has been able to learn about the background [of Islam] and learn the Arabic language.

"This is an intelligent young man whose energies need to be focused on the positive things."

Someone else found with the same material could look at a starting sentence of 21 months' jail, the judge said. However, there was a question about how Madams' diagnosis affected the intent behind his offending.

His Asperger's syndrome, age, lack of previous convictions, early guilty pleas and genuine remorse all played a part in his sentence being lowered.

He would have been sentenced to 10½ months' jail, or five months' home detention, if it were not for his mental health problems.

As part of his sentence, Madams cannot have contact with people younger than 16 without supervision from an approved adult.

He is also banned from possessing firearms, material promoting the destruction of or for religious groups, and devices capable of accessing the internet or photographs and films.

Police did not apply for Madams to be put on the child sex offender register for the sex abuse images, and the judge did not put him on it, saying he did not meet the threshold.

Although Madams was only charged with possessing objectionable material, he also produced and shared propaganda videos.

Chester Crown Court heard he bullied, blackmailed and threatened terrified youngsters to send him naked photos and sex videos of themselves.

Powner admitted 25 varying charges – dating from 2014, through to last December – including inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

But he avoided jail after a judge heard he was “vulnerable” too, having been described as autistic with Asperger’s syndrome.

Yesterday the mother of one victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “It’s ridiculous. We’ve got no faith in the justice system.

“My child was just 12 when Powner exploited him. He gets to carry on with his life now.

“He would have carried on if he hadn’t have been caught. I feel let down. They can’t use autism as an excuse.”

Another mother said: “I felt devastated to hear Powner wouldn’t be going to prison. All this stuff about autism, it seems pretty convenient this is coming out of the woodwork now.”

Powner used social media sites Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to contact complete strangers, initially often asking for photos of their faces.

But the chats quickly became sexual after he gained their trust, with his victims sending him videos of themselves engaged in sexual acts.

He would then threaten to contact a person’s entire address book if further sexual videos movies were not sent.

Powner, of Warrington, Cheshire, was just 13 when he committed his first cyber-sex crimes.

He was found to have a collection of 320 indecent images of children.

He admitted seven counts of inciting the sexual exploitation of a child aged 13 to 17; one of inciting the sexual exploitation of a child aged under 13 and three of attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence.

He also admitted three counts of taking an indecent photograph of a child, three of making an indecent photograph of a child, two of causing a child to watch a sexual act and two of distributing an indecent child photograph.

He also admitted blackmail and disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress, possession of an indecent photograph of a child and possession of a prohibited image of a child.

Powner was handed a youth rehabilitation order for three years, a curfew and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Roger Dutton said prison would not prevent the “real issues” at the heart of Powner’s offending.

He told him: “From the privacy of your own home, you dominated, threatened and had a very serious impact on the lives of youngsters.

“You terrorised them, exploited them and their fear of what might happen if they did

A retired GP accused of trying to use a hitman-for-hire website to murder his financial advisor today claimed he had no intention of killing him - and only entered his details as a mental exercise.

Dr David Crichton said his ‘life collapsed’ after he lost around £300,000 from his £1.8million pension pot following dealings with pensions and personal wealth advisor Andrew Bolden.

The retired doctor said a large part of his career was research and he had recently read about a form of therapy where recipients are encouraged to write down or type out negative thoughts before throwing them away or deleting them, thereby improving wellbeing.

He also said: ‘I’ve got obsessive tendencies and Aspergers-like tendencies, it’s been helpful in my career and in sport.

The lawyer of a California man who denies killing a gay Jewish teenager, says the suspect may have fallen in with an anti-gay and anti-Jewish crowd because he struggled with his own identity.

Samuel Woodward, 21, faces life in prison without parole if he's found guilty of hate crime in addition to the first-degree murder of 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, but on the day of a court hearing Wednesday, Edward Munoz asked people to consider that he has a 'serious mental disorder'.

Speaking about autism spectrum disorder, Woodward's representative claimed that his association with a Nazi group that has been linked to five murders in a year, was due to living with Asperger syndrome among other things.

Those affected can have difficulty with social interactions but Munoz says his client had even less of a chance because of his appearance, telling Buzzfeed News: 'He is a blonde, blue-eyed young man. There’s only going to be certain clubs he’s going to be allowed into.'

Munoz didn't mention the neo-Nazi group, Atomwaffen Division, Woodward had previously been pictured with in Texas, a ProPublica reporter shared online in January.

Munoz added that the defendant, who told police that his former high school classmate, Woodward, tried to kiss him, 'has a lot of issues, I think, around sexual orientation'.

Materials on his social media and computer also pinpointed him as someone prosecutors found to be racist, misogynistic and anti-government.

The University of Pennsylvania sophomore's body was discovered buried in a shallow grave in Lake Forest park after being stabbed 20 times in January.

A secretly-recorded Facebook video which showed a young man touching his private parts while looking at a girl on an MRT train here caused immediate outrage – until the man’s aunt came forward to reveal that her nephew is autistic.

She also expressed heartbreak over the video going viral online – a sentiment shared by others who called for greater understanding of people with disabilities and their families.

Her nephew, who has to travel "long hours" to get to his workplace, has an "above-average memory", attends a mainstream secondary school and is now working, she wrote.

Her post drew widespread sympathy and encouragement from online users with family members who have autism, as well as Member of Parliament Denise Phua, who has championed the rights of the special-needs community.

Organisations that work with people with autism and intellectual disabilities advised individuals to refrain from taking videos and posting them online should they encounter those with special needs exhibiting sexual behaviour in public.

The key guiding principle is to help keep everyone safe and direct the special-needs person to appropriate help, such as the caregiver or authorities, Dr Lam Chee Meng, principal autism consultant at the Autism Resource Centre, said.

"It is best to report to the public transport staff, especially if you are not sure if the person has special needs," he said.

"What is not safe and (is) inappropriate to do is to record the act and circulate it on social media. If a member of the public takes a video, it should be for the purpose of handing it to the authorities," he said.

Members of the public can also help by redirecting others' gaze away from the person. "Explain to the people who are observing the act that you have already called the authorities and that the individual may have special needs," Dr Lam said.

Sally May Tan, chief executive officer of the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds), said that the public should respond with empathy by refraining from posting videos and visual content online to preserve the dignity of the person and his or her family members.

A greater emphasis on public awareness and education is needed to inform others on what to do if they meet a special-needs person exhibiting sexual behaviour in public, she said.

However, people with developmental disabilities often do not acquire adequate knowledge regarding sexuality, she added.

"Even though sexuality is a universal human trait, sexual expression on the part of people with disabilities can provoke strong negative reactions, even among their own family members.

"Hence, it is important for parents and family members to work collaboratively with the school or professional to set learning goals, and also reinforce the learning that is imparted in the school or training centre. This allows sexuality education to be delivered in a way that is systemic, holistic, sustained and consistent."

However, it is a myth that persons with special needs are more likely to display inappropriate sexual behaviour in public," she stressed.

When it comes to persons with special needs, there can be tension between healthy sexuality and personal safety. "They are vulnerable to societal misconceptions, are taught to be compliant to authority, and are at higher risk for sexual abuse," Tan pointed out.

When someone with intellectual or developmental disabilities engages in inappropriate sexual behaviour in public that is causing disruption or alarm, it is likely that he or she needs support and help in certain areas that are contributing to the behaviour, she explained.

And if the acts committed are criminal in nature, the police should be called to intervene. "Subsequently, when the person is detained for questioning, the appropriate adults will be activated to facilitate the interview and investigation process," she added.