Thursday, April 30, 2009

Too Dumb to Die?

Patrick Byers' supposed low IQ could save him from the death penalty

IV reports on gang-related harbor melees. (Best gang name ever: the Dirty Slobs)

City code: you can own two sexy massage parlors for the price of one unleashed dog

Media Blabber: The Daily Record reports that the toll of this week's Sun layoffs is 61. "Spokeswoman Renee Mutchnik confirmed that the paper had informed the guild of layoffs .. and added that the cuts would help the newsroom operate in a way that allowed the company to better use the Internet." Huh?

9 comments:

ppatin said...

I'm sure that the lawyers for Patrick Byers told him to deliberately do badly on that IQ test so that they could play the tard card at trial. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive to the point of being blind.

buzoncrime said...

Hmmmmmmm. You know, I kinda wondered about that possibility myself.
When you had other defense attorneys visiting witnesses in jail (4 times in one case), without prosecutors present, one wonders how far they would go.
His alleged actions in this case don't strike even the most casual observer of a person with an IQ of 77; yet that is what the same jury convicted him of. I don't think that is going to be a very convincing argument.
They still might not sentence him to death, though, even if this gambit has little traction.

elkue said...

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(if baltimore crime doesn't approve this comment, feel free to remove. i figured it was fairly relevant, though).

ppatin said...

"His alleged actions in this case don't strike even the most casual observer of a person with an IQ of 77; yet that is what the same jury convicted him of."

He was threatening witnesses from inside Maryland's most secure prison. If a borderline retard could do that then I hate to think what kind of havoc an intelligent criminal could wreak.

Unknown said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_IQ

according to this, many countries murder should be legal if people with low IQ cant be held accountable

ppatin said...

Like pretty much everything else in psychology IQ tests are kind of a joke. Giving someone an incentive to score low on one makes it even more meaningless.

buzoncrime said...

Fortunately (or unfortunately, because of the havoc they have wrought), intelligent criminals usually don't engage in violent crime. They steal in other ways; they arrogantly believe that they'll not get caught because they're smarter than everybody else. [Sometimes, but only sometimes, they're right!]

RatherbeBiking---You need to take a look at Baltimore City's online 311 form; I sense that you have a notion that yours will be more inclusive, eclectic, or innovative than the city's request for services. Glad to see you're getting out the word for the bike ride on Saturday in Hampden. But please don't use Critical Mass techniques: they turn people off instead of helping.

Jeff---don't really know about Kevin Byers, but a huge percentage of convicted criminals in Maryland's prisons have poor education, including low reading/writing skills, deeply troubled backgrounds, untreated mental health issues, and use dangerous amounts of alcohol and illicit drugs when they can get them, as well as very low IQs. But almost all know right from wrong. Those that don't typically end up in Patuxent, and many of those are too dangerous to ever get out.

ppatin said...

Is someone like Patrick Byers actually unintelligent though, or is he ignorant as a result of growing up in a terrible environment with crappy parents and lousy schooling? Uneducated and unintelligent are very different things.

Ultimately though this is a rather academic argument. Lack of intelligence, bad education or a lousy upbringing do not excuse or mitigate violent crimes. If you are unable to follow the most basic code of morality (don't kill, assault, rape or steal) then you need to be punished. To suggest that some people are less culpable for their immoral actions than others would do immeasurable harm to our society.

buzoncrime said...

The "Dirty Slobs" must be a gang originating among some members of the Hampden community. I see them hanging around and yelling at each other, passing girls, passing cars, and no one in particular.

mjb---On a more positive note: construction equipment is now destroying the basketball court on Elm Avenue, where some members of the dirty slobs used to hang out.