A Scare Story About Tripping

So around 1998, in a cute little upstate NY town near Bard College, a student was apprehended, near naked, at an off campus dorm house, for allegedly cutting the throat of his ex girlfriend. He was tripping on acid and confessed to the killing immediatley. It happened at a closed down church near a desolate four way stop sign on a local winding road. Just after the fact, he ran through the woods for four miles to the dorm house. He nearly cut her head off. She was a daughter of two Oberlin professors and everyone was shocked. I didn't know the guy but he hung around a pizza place where I worked and we knew people in common.

At the trial he plead insanity and was sent to a mental institution. The parents of the poor girl hoped he remained there for a long time. Fast forward five years later.

He was released around 2003.

Fast forward to today. He has a wife and child, is the lead singer of a small rock band and is the branch manager at a major capital district library!

I feel like I'm on acid everytime I remmeber it. It all warps my reality. Its hard to accept but its true, the priviledged are treated diferently in our justice system, and this story is proof. I don't know how the guy can live like that. I cant imagine what his wife thinks. It's like, ok son, you're old enough now to know about your father. He murdered his girlfriend.

Nearly same thing happened to another Bard Student about 5 years ago. He slashed his female roomate and blamed it on weed. He got fifteen years.

You can google the story and then the guys name, his linkenden career profile pops up, just after his history as a convited murderer. See for yourself.

And be careful what you put inside you...

Weirdos gonna do weirdo type stuff, drugs or not. Sad story though if true

I think we can all agree that privileged people are treated differently from other people in a court of law, and that the case you're referencing was a horrible tragedy... but I don't think the case is a good example of privilege leading to a different outcome. He had a public defender. Two psychiatrists came to the conclusion he was suffering from schizophrenia before and at the time of the murder, and was psychotic at the time he committed it, and was unable to tell right from wrong (the last bit is at the core of a NGRI). The ADA in charge of the case agreed and recommended to the court that he be found not guilty by reason of insanity. The ADA also lamented that he would not face the same kind of longterm restrictions someone else would be under. We don't know how this guy feels about what he did, probably immensely guilty.

It is an absoltuley true story and the guy is absoltuely on Linkenden and findable, right above newspaper clippings of his little dosing mistake, living the good, christian, god fearing life, shhhushing people at the local library.

YardG you seem to have some understanding of law, and perhaps of this very case. Who are you? And although your assessment of this situation is mostly correct, I highly doubt he had the public defender - he was a wealthy white kid from Vermont, I think at school on a soccer scholarship. So I heard. And its funny, my family had a house less than a mile from Bard up until recently and I never saw/heard anyone playing soccer. I do know Bard College is not for the underprivileged.

“We don't know how this guy feels about what he did, probably immensely guilty.”

I bet. I can’t help but wonder what he thinks when he picks up the chainsaw in his garage…

It didn't show up when I searched his name, but I found a more detailed article about the case and lifted the details from that. He wasn't a student at the time (working off memory on this but I think maybe he had graduated the year before?) and was 24 and I suspect his parents' finances wouldn't be considered for the purposes of determining eligibility for a public defender?

I didn't mention that her father testified, both about the horribleness of the crime and its affect on him and about not wanting retribution against this guy. Also that there was testimony about him hearing voices, and that the voice told him to kill her. And that there was videotape evidence of his behavior after the murder that supported the finding.

Fascinating you went to such lengths to gather these facts. I'm clapping over here. I read somewhere that her father was content with the fact he would be locked up for a very long time, and I can imagine how her parents felt finding out he had been let out so early, let alone about this American somewhat success story. I'm extemely gifted, accomplished and dedicated in what I do for a living but haven't yet found the success I'm looking for and I don't even have all that, wife, kids, house, etc.

I'm not sure if it would be possible to blame the LSD, but I do wonder if some of these drugs can really do that kind of stuff. Angel dust is an easy one. I could pull up numerous articles of people that have killed other people, eaten their faces, etc on that stuff.

I've also been through the mental health system and seen the many levels at which it operates and at times I've been so out of my mind I've barely known who i am, but never did anything like that. And I'm no saint.

I'll leave this with a simple statement.

Be careful of hallucinogens...

Don't fuck with your brain pal!

It wasn't that much effort, I enjoy playing around with search terms to find things... it was just a matter of riddling out some key words from your description of the case and voila!

For better or worse our justice system recognizes that people who lack competency at the time they committed a crime can't be held responsible for their actions. I presume he was technically "committed" not "locked up" (as he was found not guilty), and he was released when competency was restored.

Should people who have served their time, or who weren't competent when they committed their crime and were found not guilty because of it, pay for the rest of their lives, any more than they already do if they're a decent human being? I'd say no. How he lives with what he did is his business, not mine. Nothing is ever going to change the tragedy of that woman's murder.

As for LSD and mental illness. That's a complicated subject. I ran in a circle that did it's fair share of psychedelics back in the day (some of us, myself probably included, way more than our fair share). Most of us turned out just fine, but I knew a few who probably should've stayed away from psychedelics altogether, because of diagnosed or presumed underlying conditions. TBH those people probably should have stayed away from cannabis as well. LSD seemed harmless, it wasn't really entirely harmless. I still love it and treasure the things I learned through its use, though I haven't done any in well over a decade.

I love my acid.

It's incredible how much mental illness is lurking under the lid of the population. Sucks that schizophrenia usually starts to show symptoms in teen years when people start messing with inebriation.
This is not a scary story about tripping. This is a scary story about misogyny. Two guys killing women. Blaming your bad actions on anything else is never surprising. Sucks that the guy isn't "right" in the head, but that doesn't help anyone in the situation. Bad news all around.
I'm honestly surprised by the lack of vigilanteism in America.

Antidote Man said:

Fascinating you went to such lengths to gather these facts.

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Something you failed to do . . .

What’s the point of the thread? Just a trip down memory lane? (See what I did there?) or are you discouraged by the law?

I’m sure you must have met somebody who was schizophrenic? Not a fun condition to have. So if I were you. I’d stop worrying about what him and his family thinks, they are dealing with it regardless, plus it’s hereditary so they must be terrified for the kids as well.

sounds like a tragic case all around. But I still love my acid. I’ve taken hundreds of doses over the years, never a bad trip. It all depends on the person. But I do believe that schizophrenia is like one of the only conditions known that even weed makes worse. It’s a fun tidbit I bring up when somebody says weed is 100% safe, not if you’re crazy.

DaFreak said:

What’s the point of the thread? Just a trip down memory lane? (See what I did there?) or are you discouraged by the law?

I’m sure you must have met somebody who was schizophrenic? Not a fun condition to have. So if I were you. I’d stop worrying about what him and his family thinks, they are dealing with it regardless, plus it’s hereditary so they must be terrified for the kids as well.

sounds like a tragic case all around. But I still love my acid. I’ve taken hundreds of doses over the years, never a bad trip. It all depends on the person. But I do believe that schizophrenia is like one of the only conditions known that even weed makes worse. It’s a fun tidbit I bring up when somebody says weed is 100% safe, not if you’re crazy.

Click to expand...

Passing your problems on to your children makes a family tradition.
Schizophrenia or the treatment drugs can make weed overwhelming and a very negative experience.
America could use some health care, but we would rather spend our $ on war.

DaFreak said:

I love my acid.

Click to expand...

It is used to treat depression, Strawberry Acid was the funniest trips

I thought shrooms was the thing now. But yeah, I know docs for years have been wanting to use it.

DaFreak said:

I thought shrooms was the thing now. But yeah, I know docs for years have been wanting to use it.

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LSD is some powerful stuff man. I remember the first time I tripped I couldn’t understand how that little piece of blotter paper could have that much power. I haven’t taken acid or shrooms since we had the kids but back in the day I did my share. Had awesome trips, a few bad trips and one earth shattering ego destroying trip that made me quit all drugs including cigarettes overnight. That’s lasted a few years and I don’t think I’ve ever been really the same after that one. All in all I can say acid is some weird shit lol

For sure, I always tell new comers, if they got shit going on in their life, don’t do acid thinking you’re going to escape it or have great time, makes you confront things you may not want to. Should be in a happy place.

I very much disagree thats its based in misogyny. He stated he couldn't control his feelings for her at the time he did it, I know many men this happens to. History is filled with jealous raged men. But it isn't misogyny. Remmeber the UFC fighter who beat the shit out of his pornstar girlfriend and is now in jail for a long time? Is it the power of women over men or the lack of control of men over themselves? No womans done that to me since grade school, but hey. Is that misogyny? I think theres a lot more psychology under the surface.... but how do you proove any of it in a court of law, and is that where it ends - in court? The fact is, the guy cut off his grilfriends head and now he's living the American dream. LSD was blamed. That's all I'm saying.

Although there isn't much in the newspape clippings, the LSD was a big part of the story, at least back then in the circles of people I knew. Maybe he wouldn't have done it if he wasn't on it.

And mental illness is a complex subject. But that doesn't mean a normal brain can't pop, someone with no underlying issues. Everytime I've taken mushrooms, acid, mescalin (one time each was enough) I had a terrible time. Some of the worst trips I've been on were from marijuana, likely strong sativas that can induce these states of mind.

But yeah. I'm merly a word of caution riding a voice of reason.

And cheers to cutting off heads and using a bloody shush finger to rule at the local library.

Worst thread on RIU congrats

cats anybody please