And Another Failure

And Another Failure

This March 5, 2009 Sacramento Bee article is pretty disjointed:

STOCKTON – His family said he never should have been on the stand.
But it was in the middle of David Paradiso's testimony in his own murder trial that the Stockton man leapt from the witness stand and attacked the judge – seconds before being shot to death by the Lodi police detective who built the case against him.
The attack occurred during a brief disturbance when Paradiso's mother, Debra, was removed from the courtroom after shouting that her son should never have been asked to testify. Paradiso, 29, had just told the court that he stabbed his 20-year-old girlfriend in the neck in 2006 " 'cause she deserved to die," according to observers.

Paradiso's mother was upset because his defense attorney was arguing that Paradiso committed this crime because of meth-induced paranoia:

Aaron Paradiso and his family assailed lawyers' decision to put David Paradiso on the stand, saying he was a paranoid schizophrenic who had been "breaking down" in recent weeks and couldn't withstand the stress.
"They were playing with a sick man on the stand like it was a game," he said.

And the article goes on to provide evidence that suggests that his family was right:

His family does not dispute his guilt. Instead, they say the defense argument that methamphetamine use prompted the violence is deficient.
"The evidence shows what it shows. But the paranoia is real," Aaron Paradiso said. "The craziness was there."
Two weeks before the killing, Aaron Paradiso said, his brother broke out the windows of a car parked outside the family's house because he was convinced that a friend was holding the family hostage.
Independently, three family members called David Paradiso's parole agent to ask that he be held for violating the terms of his parole, Aaron Paradiso said. But he said that when David Paradiso passed a drug test, nothing happened.
"I specifically told the parole officer he's a danger to himself and others," the brother said.
Aaron Paradiso said his brother began showing symptoms of mental illness when he was 16 years old. During his 20s, Paradiso feared people were "after him," his brother said.
According to previous reports in the Record, Paradiso spent time in a California Youth Authority facility before spending more than three years in state prison. He was convicted in 2003 of evading law officers and in 2004 of felony battery on a correctional officer, the paper reported.
Family members say they are incensed that their warning went unheeded two weeks ago when, they say, Paradiso admitted to them he had a knife in jail. Family members reported it to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department, Aaron Paradiso said, but they fear the same crude shank might have been used in Wednesday's attack.

The mental health system is hopelessly broken, and that's because that was the goal.