So...what crime(s ''deserve'' the ''within six months of conviction'' death penalty? (Page 2/2)
Patrick JUL 26, 04:42 PM

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Originally posted by Zeb:

I also have given up on the death penalty. It doesn't deter, it doesn't save money, it kills innocent people. I don't want that on my conscience.



I would never want an innocent person executed. However, cold-blooded murders do occur where there is no doubt as to who-done-it.

I would've agreed 100% to put this guy to death for what he did. And now he's a free man. Makes me want to puke!

Mentally ill man who beheaded bus passenger is freed from all supervision


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Will Baker, formerly known as Vince Li, was found not criminally responsible for 2008 killing in Canada and has now been given absolute discharge

Associated Press
Sat 11 Feb 2017 02.37 GMT

A Canadian man who was found not criminally responsible for beheading and cannibalizing a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus has been granted freedom from all supervision.

Manitoba’s Criminal Code Review Board announced it had given Will Baker, formerly known as Vince Li, an absolute discharge, meaning he is longer subject to monitoring.

Baker, a diagnosed schizophrenic, killed Tim McLean, a young carnival worker who was a complete stranger to him, in 2008. A year later Baker was found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

McLean’s mother, Carol de Delley, has been outspoken against granting Baker freedom, saying there would be no way to ensure he continued to take his medication. In a post on Facebook on Friday she said “I have no words.”

Baker was initially kept in a secure wing of a psychiatric hospital but was given more freedom every year. He has been living on his own in a Winnipeg apartment since November, but was still subject to monitoring to ensure he took his medication.

Baker’s doctor, Jeffrey Waldman, told the board earlier this week that he is confident Baker will remain on his medication and will continue to work with his treatment team if released. Waldman testified Baker knows it is the medication that keeps his illness at bay.

In a written decision the review board said it “is of the opinion that the weight of evidence does not substantiate that Mr Baker poses a significant threat to the safety of the public”.

Waldman said Baker planned to visit his native China if released but would live in Winnipeg for the next two to three years. He is on the waiting list for a post-secondary training programme and plans on establishing a career in the city. Baker emigrated to Canada from China in 2001 and became a Canadian citizen four years later.

Baker sat next to the 22-year-old McLean on the bus after the young man smiled at him and asked how he was doing. Baker said he heard the voice of God telling him to kill the young carnival worker or “die immediately”.

He repeatedly stabbed McLean while the young man fought for his life. As passengers fled the bus Baker continued stabbing and mutilating the body before he was arrested. He severed McLean’s head, displaying it to some of the passengers outside the bus, witnesses said.

The supreme court of Canada ruled in 1999 that a review board must order an absolute discharge if a person does not pose a significant threat to public safety. The ruling added there must be clear evidence of a significant risk to the public for the review board to continue imposing conditions after a person is found not criminally responsible.

Opposition Conservative member of parliament James Bezan also criticised Baker’s release. He said earlier in the week it would be an insult to De Delley and McLean’s other relatives.

Baker’s defenders include Chris Summerville, executive director of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, who has met and worked with him over the years.

“He is no longer a violent person,” Summerville said. “I will say, yes, he absolutely understands that he has to [take his medication] and has a desire to live a responsible, moral life and never succumb to psychotic episodes and not to hurt anybody ever again.”




I can't compare what the kidnapper did (in the opening post of this thread) to the monster here who murdered, mutilated, and masticated his victim!

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 07-26-2023).]

MidEngineManiac JUL 26, 04:53 PM
Armed passengers on the bus would have solved that problem real quick.
Patrick JUL 26, 04:56 PM

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Originally posted by MidEngineManiac:

Armed passengers on the bus would have solved that problem real quick.



Maybe. But then, if Vince Li himself was armed (with something more than a knife), he could've potentially killed everyone on that bus.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 07-26-2023).]