The evidence presented during the trial (I watched every single day - how's that for commitment!) showed the shooter to be a cold, calculating and very hateful person. He planned this crime meticulously, collecting weapons, ammunition, explosives, tear gas and body armour over many months.
At NO time did he tell his psychiatrist what he was planning. IF he genuinely wanted help he would have told her what he was going to do. The opposite is true. He did everything he could to conceal his intentions. He went about his everyday life (shopping for food, going to the gym, seeing his friends, paying his rent/bills, emailing his parents), while secretly planning this terrible shooting. He researched mental health on the Internet, clearly planning a defence if he was to be apprehended.
I don't doubt that there is some level of mental illness. But I don't believe (and neither did the jury) that he had a psychotic break. A psychotic break could be someone who grabs a knife from their kitchen and runs outside and stabs passers by. Not a person who spent months buying weapons and planning this atrocity.
The shooter hates people. He admitted that to Dr Reid. He wanted to murder people to make himself feel good. This deserves punishment (as you agree). Should he get the death penalty? I personally don't think so. There are, however, many who think he deserves the ultimate punishment for his actions.
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