Judicial non compos mentis

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 25, 2005

(courtesy of my friend Rick Cross)

You may recall serial murderer and rapist, Michael Ross, was convicted of the murders of eight women in the early 1980s. Well it appears that he may not be executed because, although there's no doubt about his guilt, there is some question of his mental competence. "A federal judge has ordered an immediate hearing to determine if serial killer Michael Ross is competent to drop his appeals," says a news report from Hartford.

Another federal court today, the US Supreme Court, ruled that a lower court's finding on the starvation of Terri Schiavo will not be heard. It seems that the courts hold to the idea that a woman who cannot speak or write can be starved to death on the order of her husband, since she's not mentally competent to make a determination of her medical care.

So in their wisdom our highest courts have determined the presumed mental incompetence of a human butcher is sufficient to spare his life from a fate of quick and quiet death, whereas the alleged mental incompetence of an innocent wife, is sufficient for her prolonged death by starvation--if, that is, her philandering husband sees fit.