Legal System Working in Schoenborn Case

(Aired on April 7, 2010)

You hear it repeated again and again - "the legal system is broken."

The refrain has no doubt been shouted from the rooftops by some in relation to the Allan Schoenborn case.  Earlier this year, Schoenborn was found guilty but not criminally responsible for killing his three children in Merritt.  A judge said the man's mental illness determined his horrible actions.  That led to yesterday's BC review board hearing, where a three-person panel quickly determined Schoenborn should be locked up in the forensic pschyiatric hospital in Port Coquitlam.

The calls for Schoenborn's head on a platter are coming from everywhere - and if not for him, then for the judge who didn't throw the book at him.  It seems to some inconceivable that a man continue to live his life on the taxpayers' dime, while three innocent children perished and their mother is tormented daily by their memories.

Perhaps the system is broken, but this is not an example.  Even prosecutor Glenn Kelt said the justice system is not, and should not be, in the habit of punishing the mentally ill.  Those who doubt Schoenborn's mental illness are neither mental health professionals, nor did they sit in the courtroom for the entirety of the trial, listening to the evidence presented.  Having been found not criminally responsible, Schoenborn's case went to exactly the place where it should have gone - the BC review board - a body consisting of justice and mental health professionals.  They determined Schoenborn should be locked up, and he will be.  This is his - and our society's - best option.

I am far from satisfied with the outcome of this entire situation; that being three children dead at the hands of their father.  But the torch and pitchfork crowd are after revenge and retribution, not justice.  If the system is broken, it was working just fine in this case.