Link: Killer who ate part of his victim’s brain granted supervised release from psychiatric hospital | AP News

A killer has been granted release from a maximum-security psychiatric hospital and moved to a more community-based setting. Tyree Smith—who killed his victim, Angel Gonzales, with a hatchet and ate parts of his body—was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

A family member of the victim voiced her concern in front of the Psychiatric Security Review Board, which ultimately ruled to relax the confinement of a literal ax murderer. In another example of how absurd society has become, the review board cited that Smith’s schizophrenia, alcohol, and drug disorders were in full remission due to medication and other treatment.

This line of reasoning now opens the door for future offenders to plead “the devil made me do it” instead of “guilty” or “not guilty.” There is a grave problem, in my opinion, with this line of thinking, and there are some obvious reasons this decision is hard to reconcile.

There is a lack of accountability.

If a drunk driver kills someone, he cannot hide behind the defense of “I didn’t know what I was doing.” The consequences for such crimes are written into law. Sadly, “good” people have lost their freedom and destroyed their lives because they were intoxicated. However, there must be consequences.

In this case, the Psychiatric Security Review Board unfairly placed this man in a different category, but the lost life demands accountability.

This decision is showing sympathy to the killer instead of giving justice to the victim.

While I am sympathetic to the destroyed life of Mr. Smith, this story should not be about him—at least not in the sense of “He is getting better, so let’s relax his surroundings.” The bloodshed of Angel Gonzalez demands justice, which is not being granted.

While many argue for sympathy for the offender, justice for the victim should take precedence.

This is a story of sin and the depravity of man.

When sin, evil, and the devil gain control of a life, the result is catastrophic. I believe alcohol and illicit drugs are a scourge in our society, and the devil has used them to his advantage. While hearing of this murder is certainly sickening, it should serve as a reminder that man left to himself and the influence of Satan is doomed.

Man’s justice system is broken.

Do we need any further evidence than this story? I would submit that when our judicial system gets it right, we should be extremely thankful. The older I become and the more I observe our system, the more I realize we have a greater chance of avoiding injustice than achieving true justice.

The more corrupt our society grows, the more corrupt our justice system becomes. This is because there is only one perfect Judge—Jesus Christ. It is a dangerous thing to see Christians assuming biblical justice is the same as man’s justice.

Stories such as this are sickening but serve as a necessary reminder. I read this story, shaking my head and asking myself the question, “What if someone had taken him to Sunday school?” Perhaps someone did, but it is hard to fathom. What if someone had reached his family with the Gospel?

We may not be able to do anything for the victim or the guilty in this case, but we can go win someone else to Christ. I think of the thousands of children who have ridden our church buses and received Christ because someone cared enough to reach them. I wonder how many of them never became ax murderers because of that?

Remember that true justice will never reign until King Jesus returns.