Personal Injury Law

Mark Becker's Insanity, What Motivated Him?

By Steve Lombardi

On August 25^th Mark Becker's legal counsel Susan Flander stated that he is unable to understand the charges against him or to aid in his own defense. According to court documents Miss Flander also stated that he, 'has difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy', suffers from schizophrenia and has bipolar disorder. Miss Flanders has asked the court to suspend further proceedings because he's not competent to stand trial.

While I'm sure no one can argue with the fact that Mr. Becker is obviously suffering from something, the question still remains why was Ed Thomas, the head football coach at Aplington-Parkersburg High School, the targeted victim in this case? Mr. Thomas, who seemed to be beloved by the entire community, seems like an odd target for Mr. Becker. Upon further investigation this doesn't even remotely resemble some of the recent school shootings we've seen in the news. Mr. Becker didn't seem to have any suicidal intentions I haven't seen or heard of any random postings on the internet of rants and hate filled propaganda. Unlike the other shootings while the opportunity was there Mr. Becker did not shoot at any of the other students or individuals who were in the area. Going back to his mental state and his ability to understand the charges against him, this screams of being pre-meditated, and if it's pre-meditated again we have to ask why?

Only time and due process will answer these questions, for now we are left to wonder; what led this young man to commit such a heinous act, what could have been done to prevent it, and why was such an obviously well liked man the target of a violent act?

For additional discussion read the previous post.

Parkersburg, Iowa and the Murder of Coach Ed Thomas – Just the Facts (Updated 06/30/09)

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on September 23, 2009 (boomark / email).