Seems like an article week, mostly b/c there's nothing else to report. I'm still working, I'm still getting less sleep than I should, and I'm still a big Twins fanatic.
This article, though, I think is kinda fascinating. The question of the day: Should the insanity defense be abolished?
Before Seth Bartell was killed in the 2003 shootings at Rocori High School, ''I see dead people,'' a line from the Bruce Willis movie ''Sixth Sense,'' was a running joke around his family's home.
Today, the movie and its famous catch phrase, which always made Bartell laugh, took center stage in the insanity defense phase of the murder trial of John Jason McLaughlin.
McLaughlin, now 17, was found guillty on Monday of killing Bartell and another student, Aaron Rollins.
As the Bartell and Rollins families looked on, prosecutors played a clip from the 1999 movie to make the point that McLaughlin is faking mental illness and that popular culture, movies and TV, have inspired symptoms he's reported.
McLaughlin's attorney has claimed the teen has paranoid schizophrenia and was insane when the shootings occurred on Sept. 24, 2003.
The clip showed three dead people hanging in a stairwell at a school attended by the film's young lead character, played by Haley Joel Osment. The bodies are dressed in old-fashioned clothing.
McLaughlin has reported similar hallucinations, according to court documents. He has described dead people dressed like Pilgrims hanging in the detention center where he has been held.
Seth Bartell's mother, Kim, said outside the courtroom that the movie brought back memories of her son. It also angered her.
''It just clocked in my mind. This all came from the movie. After this morning, I just feel like they have been carrying on a huge lie,'' she said, referring to the defense attorney and expert witnesses who have testified that McLaughlin is mentally ill.
Other hallucinations McLaughlin has reported may have been inspired by pop culture, said Kelly Wilson, a psychologist called by prosecutors.
Wilson testified that the movie ''A Beautiful Mind'' may have been where McLaughlin got the idea to say he has seen drug enforcement-type people living in the woods near his Cold Spring home.
''A Beautiful Mind,'' starring Russell Crowe, is about a mathematician with a mental illness, who thought he met government agents in remote settings.
Wilson, with the Minnesota State Security Hospital in St. Peter, also noted that McLaughlin has said his hands turn tie-dye colors underwater. She said this idea has been featured on the long-running TV cartoon ''The Simpsons.''
Asked if there's evidence McLaughlin has seen the movies and the TV show, prosecutor David Voigt said, ''stay tuned.''
The prosecution plans to call witnesses that will say that the teen has seen the movies and TV show. This morning, Wilson testified that McLaughlin's family owns the movie ''A Beautiful Mind.'' It also appears as though McLaughlin has seen both movies at the detention center.
Wilson came under fire from defense attorney Dan Eller, who pointed out that Wilson's conclusions about malingering or feigning mental illness differ significantly from other mental health experts who have examined McLaughlin.
