June 01, 2006
Mental Health Dodge Fails - For Now - For Alleged Cop Shooter
The King County Journal reports this morning that Wilford Armstead, the man charged with attempted first degree murder in the January shooting of Renton police officer Larry Strauss (pictured below, right) has been finally been declared mentally competent to stand trial. But Armstead's lawyer says he'll possibly mount an insanity defense.
After the hearing, Armstead's defense attorney, Marcus Naylor, said his client still suffers from mental illness and an insanity defense likely will be considered in the case. "There are other mental issues, so we are asking for another mental evaluation," Naylor said.
Reading the whole story, it sure sounds to me like Armstead has deliberately and very consciously chosen a life of crime.
His most recent address is in Seattle, but Armstead also has lived in Bellevue and Edmonds, according to court records. He has a long criminal record including 20 felony convictions for burglary, assault and possession of stolen property. Strauss, who is married with three children, survived a previous shooting in 1991, when he was shot in the chest while responding to a domestic violence call. Police officials said his life likely was saved by a bulletproof vest all Renton police officers are required to wear.
This January '06 Seattle Times story about the shooting says the suspect (unnamed in the story because he hadn't been charged yet) had 10 felony convictions. 
So if the unnamed suspect in the Times story was indeed Armstead, somebody's story is wrong and a correction should be issued.
Even if it's just 10 felony convictions, um, Hello!!!??? How is this guy even still on the street?
What would be really insane is to think he's anything other than a hardened career thug. OK, a hardened career criminal, who, according to the KCJ, may also be a heroin user.
Sadly, in King County courts, common sense and real social justice often fly straight out the window. Especially in the courtroom of King County Superior Court Judge Michael Spearman. The alleged would-be cop killer Armstead faces 40 years in prison. Presuming he is found guilty, and considering his many previous felony convictions, he should do every second of the time.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at June 01, 2006
08:15 AM | Email This
1. This time we can only hope that he goes up for good. Unless, of course, he's only around five feet tall and therefore too small to go go prison....
2. If this person had received at least 1 year in jail for each of his felony convictions after #5, that would be 15 years. Would he have even been out on the street to attempt to kill this police officer?
Excluding three strikes, do we have any laws that require jail time after a certain numbers of felony convictions?
Why not?
Governments primary job is to protect the citizens, how does allowing people like this to run loose fulfill that job?
Officer Strauss almost paid for this stupidity with his life.
3. It would be very interesting to know what those 10 or 20 prior felony convictions (I thought felony convictions carried a minimum of 366 days in prison-so someone tell me why he hasn't done 10-20, minimum, already?) were for. Are there two that qualify as strikes, so he can be sent up for life if he's convicted this time?
4. You ask why he should be on the streets? I think it appropriate to mention- to vote?
5. You're right, Matt--why is this guy STILL on the streets after his mile-long rap sheet?? If our criminal justice system would actually incarcerate criminals then this police officer might still be alive!
6. Misty:
The officer is still alive.
7. Misty, the officer is fortunately still alive, but still in rehab - not back to work yet.
8. We as a nation need to dump this whole insanity canard and force all criminals to face justice.
9. AP - What "sane" person would ever murder someone else? I think the "innocent (not guilty) by reason of insanity" plea is stupid. It shoudl be closer to "guilty, but criminally insane" and it should not get them off the hook nor out of incarceration.
10. Insanity? Committment for life works just fine.
11. Oops--I read the description of "alleged cop-killer" and looked for but did not see reference to his survival in the news clip that I clicked on. I stand corrected. Glad the officer survived!
Though I still wonder with matt why this criminal walked the streets.
12. mutiple convictions; shooting a policeman; why am I still paying food & bills for this bastard criminal? give him the Big Bee Sting; end of story; then, divert the perp's allocated resources to the policeman and his family; I'd gladly pay for that; liberals (like those helping this trash) will kill us all off; this goes beyond protecting the innocents' basic rights; this is an assault on every law-abiding citizen; mentally ill? the perp managed to move through society and survive in it, so that's not mentally ill to me--that's very conscious and purposeful; screw the illness excuse; it's old; it's abused; it screws the truly ill who are totally (and truly) detached from reality;
13. Same type of story-worse outcome in Hoquiam. The punk accused of robbing and beating to death an elderly couple last week has a rap sheet dating back almost 20 years. How many times do we give a slap on the wrist for assault, a deferred sentence for robbery, probation/time served for dealing drugs until finally 10+ years later, someone is shot or killed and there is another distraut family with more questions than answers! I understand that people can make a youthful mistake in judgement and I'm all of giving them a SECOND chance, but not a TENTH or FIFTEENTH! We spend so much money running these people through the revolving door of the criminal justice system.(And it's our tax dollars, by the way folks. The "public defender's" office is nothing but a cash cow for attorneys) It is a joke and we the people need to stand up and say enough is enough!
14. Progressive activist judges believe in "giving these guys a chance to reform." Inside every Tookie Williams is a human being with real feeling, blah, blah, blah.
Every once in a while, we just end up with a bad apple. It's natural, in any population there are going to be some who take advantage of others and disregard others. As long as we continue to be soft on the bad guys, they'll continue to be hard on the rest of us.
Hang 'Em High.