New Zealand murderer gets lighter sentence because victim was disabled

In New Zealand last week, a man who stabbed his roommate six times in the neck before slitting his throat has escaped the typical life sentence for murder, receiving instead a maximum of 12 years with possible parole in seven. The judge awarded the defendant the shorter sentence because he suffered from "accumulated stress" and because the victim was disabled.

Keith McCormick, who had won several medals in the Paralympics, was watching TV when his roommate Eric Neil Smail came home drunk and decided to kill him. The fact that Smeal was a part-time caregiver for McCormick helped guide the judge toward leniency despite there being absolutely no evidence McCormick wished to die.

Christchurch Justice John Fogarty told Eric Neil Smail:

"The evidence is that you thought you were doing an act of mercy in a way that minimised any awareness that he was about to die and was being killed."

What a relief to know that if a friend murders you and you remain oblivious to his intentions until it's too late, his life won't be completed ruined.

Judge Fogarty also acknowledged, "It wasn't a suicide pact. The right to life is the most fundamental of our rights and you took that away." Yet because Smail reportedly could not distinguish between his own needs and those of his victim's, Fogarty determined a life sentence was cruel and unusual punishment.

Interestingly, Judge Fogarty, who was appointed to the high court in 2003, has been "an advisor to the Deaf Sports Federation of New Zealand (formerly NZ Deaf Sports Association) for many years and was part of the organising committee for the XVth World Games for the Deaf held in Christchurch in 1989." One wonders if he knew how to sign and communicate with the people he served. Evidently, advising and organizing sporting events for deaf people doesn't involve believing disabled people deserve the same level of fundamental rights as everyone else.

Philip Patston, disabled comedian and managing director of Diversityworks in New Zealand, says:

It won't matter if your victim is successful and enjoying life - if you believe they're in pain and feel bad about it, just "take it on board" and kill them mercifully. You'll feel better.

Representing some popular beliefs, a longtime friend of Smeal has stated that "Being a caregiver, and probably not having the formal training that a person should really have ... it's a lot of stress to put on a person." Which, of course, justifies murder. And in New Zealand apparently provides an interesting method of stress relief.