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Sarah Halimi: Thousands protest decision not to try Jewish woman's killer

https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/25/sarah-halimi-thousands-protest-decision-not-to-try-jewish-woman-s-killer

Halimi, 65, died in 2017 after being pushed out of the window of her Paris apartment by her neighbour Kobili Traoré, who allegedly shouted: “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic). Traoré has since admitted pushing her.

The ruling had conceded there was enough evidence to show the act had antisemitic motives. But the court also said that Traoré, who is known to have smoked heavy quantities of cannabis in the past, could not stand trial due to having been in a "delirious state" at the time.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a change in French law to address this issue. In a recent interview with Le Figaro newspaper, he said: “Deciding to take narcotics and then ‘going mad’ should, not in my view, remove your criminal responsibility."

Reply 1

Wired_1800

Original post by Ascend

https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/25/sarah-halimi-thousands-protest-decision-not-to-try-jewish-woman-s-killer

What a sad ending. No justice.

Reply 2

Joleee

interesting. i didn't know habitual marijuana use can cause psychosis; learn something new every day.

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20190320/can-high-potency-pot-make-you-psychotic

some US states have a similar law to France in what they call 'settled insanity', that is 'a permanent condition resulting from substance abuse, rather than the effects of intoxication, no matter how severe'.

http://jaapl.org/content/35/2/172

stems in English law but i can't find a source that tells me if said law is still relevant here, so if someone can find one i'd be interested to read :redface:

obviously there is no justice here and is a heartbreaking, horrific crime and no doubt people are protesting. still (and i know this won't be a popular opinion) if you can be found not guilty by reason of insanity - even if you caused your own insanity - i'm not sure i completely disagree with that. it's similar to the argument if you cause your own cancer you shouldn't get medical treatment, which i certainly would not agree with. i would be more interested to know the threshold in which France can find you not guilty by reason of insanity. is it high or is it low(?). i know in the UK and the US the threshold is high, which is why the defence is rarely used. it's used in like 1 percent of cases and only a fraction are found not guilty.

Reply 3

Napp

An interesting, if sad, case. On the one hand a homicide is always a terrible thing but it does nicely ram home the effects of unregulated and unattended drug taking can have on the mind, not least of all the current varieties of 'skunk'. No one really wins here.

Reply 4

londonmyst

Utterly devasting for the friends and family of Sarah Halimi.
The French government seem committed to speedily passing new legislation removing the barrier to conviction for violent crimes committed where voluntary narcotic intoxication triggers or contributes towards criminal conduct connected with a psychiatric disorder.

Hopefully the killer will spend the rest of his life held under high security psychiatric hospital conditions 24hrs a day.
Medicated, appropriately restrained and tightly monitored under lock & key so that he won't be in a position to cause any further harm or criminal conduct.