As an autistic person, this argument is disgusting to me.
BK knows exactly what is expected of him by society, he just doesn't care.
He isn't a high needs autistic person who requires supervision and guidance to safely navigate the world because he's unaware of dangers, rules, and consequences. That's the kind of person this legal argument is designed to protect from excessive punishment.
Every word BK ever wrote in his university career shows he understands the laws of the land and right and wrong with absolute precision. And choosing to act with violence while in full understanding of the consequences and why it is unacceptable to do so is not a defence. It's premeditation and malice aforethought.
MOO
I don’t have autism, and I agree with you 100%.
It appears to me that AT is attempting to enfeeble Bryan as the only option available to getting him exonerated.
As a NYC teacher, once “special ed” students were mainstreamed into our classes, I was able to understand much more about autism, Asperger’s and the very wide spectrum on which someone may fall.
Obviously I don’t know BK, but from the outside looking in he does remind me of some students I can recall. Mostly males; with eye contact issues, standing too close, blurting out something in class, unemotional ——but absolutely knowing right from wrong and with no desire to harm anyone.
I have a dear friend, a professor with a Ph.D in Statistics, and he is just the same as those kids but would never harm a soul.
This notion of autism being an irresistible force propelling BK to murder, with no comprehension of what he felt compelled to do, is just hurting my heart.
In fact, over 25 years of teaching 150 students a year, one did turn out to be involved in a murder about 10 years after he graduated. This was a lovely, sweet little boy whom I always chose to be my monitor on Parent/Teacher Day. (A notorious murder, George Smith on his honeymoon cruise).
I mention this because this narrative that autism=destiny and that it furnishes an “excuse” is so belittling and outrageous. The boy involved in a murder as an adult was a very “normal,” intelligent and seemingly placid kid when I knew him.
If BK was so incompetent in daily life, he could not have plotted all his moves and he wouldn’t have tried to hide the evidence. It seems clear to me that he had a consciousness of guilt when he tried to hide the evidence of his DNA by throwing his trash in the neighbor's bin.
My heart goes out to all those who are not neurotypical and rightfully feel maligned by AT’s Hail Mary pass.
JMO and experience.