There is a horrible triple murder being investigated this morning in North Carolina where three people from a Muslim family were allegedly murdered by Craig Stephen Hicks, 46. Some are speculating that Hicks’ strong atheist views may have been a factor after reading this “anti-theist” positions on the Internet. He has been described in some media account as a “radical atheist” though atheists have rarely engaged in violent acts against religious persons. UPDATE: Police have said that the dispute was not religiously motivated but a dispute over a parking space.
All three victims are from the same family and identified as Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. From all accounts, the family was the epitome of a hard-working and successful American family. Barakat was a dental student at the University of North Carolina was a volunteer giving free dental care to Palestinian children. He also helped provide free dental supplies to 75 homeless people in downtown Durham. The recently married couple also organized a fundraiser to raise money for dental care for refugees from Syria. Barakat was going to travel to Turkey to help treat child refugees. His sister-in-law Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha had been studying for a degree at North Carolina State University in Architecture and Environmental Design.
All three were shot in the head.
Hicks posted anti-religious positions on the Internet and asked “why radical Christians and radical Muslims are so opposed to each others’ influence when they agree about so many ideological issues”? His page suggests that he is paralegal at Durham Technical Community College. He reported turned himself in.
News organizations have been focusing on Hicks’ anti-religious statements on the Internet as well as his photograph of a gun. However, anti-religious sentiments do not naturally lead to gunning down family’s of religious people (any more than stated religious beliefs or anti-atheist views naturally leads to killing atheists or agnostics). That does not mean that this was not a motivation in this case but we have little information at this point. Update: The police said that they have evidence of a long-standing parking space dispute.
Nothing is known of any prior interaction or mental disorders on the part of Hicks. Hicks also posted less threatening images, including photos with his wife.
Atheist leaders immediately condemned the murders. The numerous articles focusing on Hicks’ reported atheist views show no specific connection to this family or advocacy of anti-religious violence. However, it creates the possibility of a crime motivated by religious hostilities and is presumably being investigated as a possible hate crime. In the end, the classification of the murders as a hate crime are unlikely to materially affect the prosecution in the case if Hicks confessed to the murders. The question remains an insanity defense. As previously discussed, the insanity defense has been substantially curtailed in this country. I believe that North Carolina uses the M’Naghten Rule with the burden of proof on the defendant. The test is generally defined as meaning “the defendant was laboring under such a defect of reason from disease or deficiency of mind at the time of the alleged act as to be (1) incapable of knowing the nature and quality of his act, or (2) incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong with respect to such act.” State v. Mancuso, 364 S.E.2d 359 (1988) (relying on State v. Evangelista, 319 N.C. 152, 353 S.E.2d 375 (1987)).
Once invoked, the state can press for an examination, though it is often ordered by the Court sua sponte.
(a) If a defendant intends to raise the defense of insanity, the defendant must file a notice of the defendant’s intention to rely on the defense of insanity as provided in G.S. 15A-905(c) and, if the case is not subject to that section, within a reasonable time prior to trial. The court may for cause shown allow late filing of the notice or grant additional time to the parties to prepare for trial or make other appropriate orders.
(b) In cases not subject to the requirements of G.S. 15A-905(c), if a defendant intends to introduce expert testimony relating to a mental disease, defect, or other condition bearing upon the issue of whether the defendant had the mental state required for the offense charged, the defendant must within a reasonable time prior to trial file a notice of that intention. The court may for cause shown allow late filing of the notice or grant additional time to the parties to prepare for trial or make other appropriate orders.
(c) Upon motion of the defendant and with the consent of the State the court may conduct a hearing prior to the trial with regard to the defense of insanity at the time of the offense. If the court determines that the defendant has a valid defense of insanity with regard to any criminal charge, it may dismiss that charge, with prejudice, upon making a finding to that effect. The court’s denial of relief under this subsection is without prejudice to the defendant’s right to rely on the defense at trial. If the motion is denied, no reference to the hearing may be made at the trial, and recorded testimony or evidence taken at the hearing is not admissible as evidence at the trial. (1973, c. 1286, s. 1; 1977, c. 711, s. 25; 2004-154, s. 10.)
SOURCE: NBC
Pogo,
Reading Jesus one should wonder about all that excess in the Vatican, all that corruption hidden within. The lies, the thefts, the rapes. Jesus called people like that vipers of hell…
DBQ
If a Muslim shot at three non-Muslims how would you be spinning that?
Would you be rooting it in their Religion? You know, as you call them, “Muslim Terrorists”. Dare to take your religious animus out of the equation…
DBQ
I even quoted one of the victims that was killed. What did she say, again?
How are you NOT doing what she feared?
“Will he give all of this and more to the poor, THEN follow Jesus?”
You were raised Catholic and you don’t understand why not?
Such a poor student.
“You’re judging your brother and spit in the face of Jesus when you do this. You’re essentially saying to Christ, “GO SCREW YOUR FORGIVENESS THEOLOGY!””
Max, that doesn’t make any sense, and all caps doesn’t clarify it.
More, being able to partially quote one of Jesus’ sayings doesn’t prove you are not ignorant of the Church’s teachings.
You don’t seem to understand forgiveness, for one.
I wish there was an edit…
“Will he give all of this and more to the poor, THEN follow Jesus? Somehow, I just don’t see that happening…”
@ Max
Substitute Islam with Judaism, Muslim with Jew and Mosque with Synagogue and this reads heavily anti-Semitic. Just sayin
Not at all. You are stretching here…..don’t hurt yourself. If there were a radical group of Jews, Baptists, Hindus or any other religious sect who were running around and blowing people up, burning people alive, destroying buildings etc….IN the name of their chosen God or prophet….. I would have no problem whatsoever naming them as Jewish Terrorists. Or Baptist Terrorists. Nothing anti-semetic or anti Baptist about making that designation. It is about being anti-terrorist.
Anti Semitic feelings are not necessarily connected to the religion of Judaism. It has to do with the ethnic designation of Jewish and now with the political designation of Israeli.
Muslim terrorists who claim their religion as the motivating force for their terrorist acts have self identified themselves. If the claim this designation, then why should we not also use it. Does it mean that all people of the Muslim faith are terrorists or are guilty of even supporting terrorism. Of course not.
However, as Pogo says, since there is not a mass disclaiming of the acts by Moderate and peaceful Muslims, we can only conclude that they are in accordance with those who claim Islam as the reason for their terrorism.
In the deep south during the horrific times of lynching blacks and burning them alive, if the people in the community don’t decry those acts, you Max, would have no compunction about saying that the whole community was guilty. You can’t have it both ways. Saying that those Muslims who remain silent are not a part of the problem when those whites who remained silent while blacks were being killed ARE the problem.
Ed,
p.s.
I was Raised Catholic… the Church abandoned me when I came out.
The Church has this position of, well, as Jesus put it… “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” Followed by: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
I’m glad the new Pope is willing to begin to clean house, or as Jesus put it: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”
Do you think this Pope will be the Pope that finally sells that gilded altar at St. Peters, that gilded chalice and plate? Will he give all of this and more, THEN follow Jesus? Somehow, I just don’t see that happening…
Max-1 – one of the things the new Pope cleaned out was the Gay Mafia of the Vatican.
“Pogo,
Substitute Islam with Judaism”
Again, Max, you fail to see that the Muslim terrorists are killing in the name of Islam.
There is no similar religious holy war anywhere else. No forced conversions. No beheadings of infidels.
Except in Islam.
…”imagine the amount of spin this would generate had the roles been reversed? A muslim killer and innocent non-Muslim victims… ”
How about you just imagine Muslim terror in one day, Feb 1, 2015?
2015.02.01 Iraq Mosul Two Iraqi captives are beheaded by the Islamic State.
2015.02.01 Afghanistan Chasht Fundamentalists pour automatic-weapons fire into a police post, killing four officers.
2015.02.01 Syria Damascus Terrorists blow up a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims, killing six.
2015.02.01 Iraq Sensil The remains of eleven ISIS execution victims are found in a mass grave.
2015.02.01 Nigeria Maiduguri A dozen people lose their lives when Boko Haram gunmen attack a small city.
2015.02.01 Nigeria Gombe A bomb at a market leaves three dead.
2015.02.01 Nigeria Potsikum A suicide bomber murders nine innocents at a political gathering.
2015.02.01 Pakistan Jhang Two sisters are honor killed by their family for refusing to marry men picked out for them.
2015.02.01 Nigeria Dalwa Nearly two dozen others lose their lives during a Boko Haram attack.
2015.02.01 Iraq Sinuni Twenty-five Yazidi victims of an ISIS execution are discovered, including women and children.
2015.02.01 Egypt Rafah Two women and a child are crushed to death by two rocket attacks on their homes.
2015.02.01 Pakistan Karachi Four Sunnis are gunned down in two sectarian attacks.
2015.02.01 Iraq Karaghol Jihadis blow up two civilians.
2015.02.01 Syria Aleppo Army of Islam members target a neighborhood with rockets, killing two residents.
Hmmmm, maybe he just hated college students.
Edward
Thanks for thinking that you know of me or anything about me. You do not and have just revealed yourself for that. You’re judging your brother and spit in the face of Jesus when you do this. You’re essentially saying to Christ, “GO SCREW YOUR FORGIVENESS THEOLOGY!”
But what would you know… you’ve got God’s ear, NO?
Please tell God how to judge me too.
“Whatsoever you do unto the least of your brother, so too you have done to me.”
Ed, Just make sure the loogies are extra rich with snot… this way Jesus’ face will look extra special. K?
“…the idea of closing the Roman Catholic Churches where they rape children and preach submission and intolerance?”
1. The sex abuse rate among clergy is no different for Catholic priests than other denominations.
“Guide One Center for Risk Management, which has more than 40,000 church clients, does not charge Catholic churches higher premiums. “We don’t see vast difference in the incidence rate between one denomination and another,” says Sarah Buckley”
2. That’s a lower rate than for most US males.
“John Jay College’s study of Catholic priests …reported that about 4 percent of the 110,000 priests active during those years had been accused of sexual misconduct involving children. Experts disagree on the rate of sexual abuse among the general American male population, but Allen says a conservative estimate is one in 10”.
3. There is no evidence that Catholic priests were teaching “submission and intolerance“, whatever that was supposed to mean.
4. They were not abusing kids in the name of Catholicism, where the terrorists are bombing and chopping off heads in the name of Islam.
Your failure to understand that is annoying but not surprising.
As long as the terrorists are acting in the name of Islam, they are Muslim terrorists.
If other Muslims don’t like that, they can do something about it.
But I don’t see much of that going on. They either say nothing or write strongly worded articles.
At a minimum, they could close the offending mosques, and stop sending them money, but they won’t.
There’s very little evidence of mass opposition to Muslim terror acts.
I think the claim they oppose it is often taqiyya anyway.
In contrast, Nazi horrors were done in the name of Germany, not Christianity.
You continue with the false conflation, but that’s your tactic here, I gather.
Good luck with that.
= = =
Pogo,
Substitute Islam with Judaism, Muslim with Jew and Mosque with Synagogue and this reads heavily anti-Semitic. Just sayin…
Max-
Lovely. Thanks for revealing yourself as: (1) an anti-Catholic bigot; and (2) totally ignorant of the Church’s teachings.
Max, shhhhh, Pogo doesn’t want us to be reminded of that little unpleasantness.
Annie,
Do you think Pogo is doing backflips on their graves, already?
Fascinating comeback.
They SOOOO want to blame the murders on his atheism. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. More likely this guy was an angry unstable gun owner who disliked that Muslims were taking up what he considered his parking spot.
Annie,
I am wondering when Pogo is going to raise the idea of closing the Roman Catholic Churches where they rape children and preach submission and intolerance?
Now, imagine the amount of spin this would generate had the roles been reversed? A muslim killer and innocent non-Muslim victims… just imagine the level of vitriol expressed.