Our Court System Is Insane!

In Plano, Texas, Lisa Diaz drowned her two children, ages 7 and 3. She admitted she did it, there was evidence that she did it. Her defense team never tried to refute that she did it. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

While it may be true that this woman is truly insane, how can she be found not guilty? This is my problem with the system. She did it – she is guilty. End of story.

I am not saying that her insanity should not be an issue. I believe it is a very real issue, but it is an issue for the punishment phase, not the trial phase. I don’t believe that a truly insane person should be put in the general population at the big house. They should be confined to a mental hospital and receive the appropriate care for however long is appropriate.

The fact that she murdered her two innocent children needs to be permanently attached to her record. What if the shrinks and the judge decide that her insanity was a temporary situation and release her into the world? Oh, you say, she isn’t really a danger to anyone else, why shouldn’t she go free? I’ll tell you.

My wife and I have recently signed up to teach pre-schoolers in Sunday School every week. As part of the process, we filled out a questionnaire so that the church could make sure we don’t pose a danger to the little ones. One of the questions on the questionnaire was “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”

Now, imagine that your child is attending Sunday School and Lisa Diaz is signed up to help. She could truthfully answer “No” to the conviction question. Do you not think it is important that you, as a parent, know that she held her two beautiful girls under the water in the bathtub until they were dead?

I think it is pretty damn important. She should have been found guilty and then her sanity could have been assessed and addressed later.

I am not condemning the jury. They did their job. It is the legal system that didn’t do it’s job!