John Hogan found not guilty of murdering his son....

[skyep]

due to his mental state at the time. This is the man that leapt from a hotel balcony .

[Bewlay Bros]

I imagine he will serve the same amount of time in a nut house. So does it make a difference?

A cell with padded walls is still a cell.

[mrs_overall]

As his ex wife said yesterday....he will still have to serve a life sentence in his mind and will never be rid of the guilt.

[skyep]

The ex Mrs Hogan in an interview after the verdict said she felt her sons death had been in vain, in other words, she wanted a guilty verdict.

[funnygirl]

I've just read that he (hogan) feels no guilt!!!
What kind of a man is this??!!

[Bewlay Bros]

A mad man perhaps?

[4getmenot]

what about any charges on what he did to his daughter?

[4getmenot]

or maybe manslaughter?

[B00]

That's not the full sentance funnygirl....

"Earlier, Hogan told the court he did not feel guilty as he had not been sane at the time. "I do not feel guilty because I did not do it," he said. This person you see before you is not the person who jumped from the balcony, from the fourth floor. I already have my son's forgiveness and I have God's forgiveness."

[skyep]

What's the definition of mad? Mad with vengence or insane? I know there was mental health issues in his family, but how do you prove his mental state in this instance?

[B00]

Dunno skyep, iknteresting point- but you must be insane to even contemplate doing somethig so horrific to your children, surely?

A teeny tiny part of me feels sorry for him though, I remember the news footage of him when he was arrested and I remember thinking "My God, now there's a broken man"

[Bewlay Bros]

I am sure the Greek authorities use a similar principle to our M'Naghten Rules

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%27Naghten_rules

Basically not sane enough AT THE TIME to have malice aforethought.

[andy-hughes]

The whole thing is a terrible tragedy and no-one can really take the moral high ground on this.

His wife has her own feelings - obviously - but strangers like us should take a compasionate view, and remember that mental illness can strike anyone at any time.

[B00]

That's what i meant Andy (hello, by the way!), the man looked utterly broken when he was arrested, my heart went out to him.

[Drisgirl]

I have real mixed feelings on this as I genuinely feel the man had an abberation.His ex-wife even said that she would never have thought him capable of such a heinous act -that was my words -not hers -cant remember the exact words.
However -she has a life sentence to live as does her daughter- perhaps to a lesser degree.
Its just not a cut and dried average murder -so my feelings on this are that it was a tragedy for all concerned-and I even have a degree of compassion towards Hogan himself.
One mad moment -the conqequences will live with them all forever.Very sad.

[skyep]

Not taking a moral high ground andy, after all, how can I judge his mental state? How can anyone?

[4getmenot]

surely no-one finds any person capable of it

[theonlyone]

No one will ever know as to what was said that day or what really happened in the hotel room , before he leapt off the balcony with the children . Both the parents have to live with their loss and they will have it forever .

[andy-hughes]

Sorry skyep - wasn't having a pop at you directly, or indeed anyone else who has responded on this thread.

I think we are all agreed that this is a terrible tragedy, and everyone involved will have to live with it, from their own perspective - for the rest of their lives.