Aspies For Freedom

If I had to guess, i'd say the meds were  anti-psychotics, and that he had comorbid psychosis of some description.

It was quite likely revenge, either a sudden attack due to anger in the heat of the moment or a planned one - but it doesn't matter either way. The guy's a murderer, aspie or not. Please do not try to imply that he is innocent by virtue of AS. The fact he shouted "I did it" later is enough to show that at the least he intended to seriously hurt this other boy. I also doubt that he did not know that his attack would cause the victim's death, it's possible he wasn't thinking rationally due to anger though.

Then I am ashamed of you.

There is a massive difference between self defence and murder.

I must make something very clear here:
Anyone who wishes to attempt to contact this boy, please do not mention AFF or attempt to associate AFF in anyway with what you are doing.

You may post your response here, that is fine. What I do not want to happen is to be seen in any way supporting murderers - aspies or not. Even if this was manslaughter, he was still in the wrong. If we are to be taken seriously it is a very bad idea to support violence as a response to bullying. This is not too different from the NT parents killing their children we have heard about lately and who have got sympathy for it.

This is a hard one. He did kill someone. Did he murder them?
I hit someone once and they went down very hard and smashed their head on the concrete pad we were standing on. It split his head right open, knocked him out cold and there was blood puddling out. Scarey ***! For a brief time I wondered if I was going to end up in jail. If he had died, it would have been as a result of my actions and I would have been responsible for killing him. Would I have been a murderer?

At the end of the day let the court hear all evidence and rule on the decision. I think it would be best were we not to judge him or his intentions either way. Was he a nasty, creepy little kid looking for a sadistic thrill? Was he a poor innocent victim who did something out of character and more on instinct than anything else, resulting in a tragic loss of life? I don't know and I presume no-one on AFF does either. Endorsing him or demonising him as an individual is risky without knowing the full story.

At the end of the day there are good autistics and bad autistics, psychologically balanced autistics and ones that aren't. I don't mind the press reporting on the stabbing. I don't even mind them mentioning his diagnosis. What I am sick to *** death of though is how everything seems to be blamed on the autism.
Questions should be being asked of this style of reporting - "OK he was autistic, was he crazy too? Yeah? Do you think the fact he was a bit crazy might have had a little more to do with him knifing someone than his autism did?"
No, the press is happy to attach any abnormal behaviour solely on the diagnosed autism. What society is learning from such reports is that autistics are dangerous, impulsive, crazy, deranged people incapable on functioning in society and to be feared. Most of us battle to fit into society and dickheads like these reporters make things just that little bit harder.

Read the last paragraph of your post there - it is best that we do not stick up for him in any way merely on those grounds. Picture it - autism rights supporters stick up for aspie murderer.

Look mate I agree with you on that point.
How about we take it a step further.
IMAGINARY SITUATION
"Ok men. Now we have a dangerous situation coming up. A group of people with Aspergers are forming as a mass to petition against an Aspergers Murderer."
Raised hand
"Sir what is Aspergers?"
"Oh its some mental disorder of some kind that we've all been hearing about in the press lately. If these wackos aren't killing others they are killing themselves...anyhow the a congregating together. We can definately presume they will act irrationally in a deranged and voilent matter. Go fully loaded and don't take any chances. These guys are dangerous and crazy....."

OK we aren't there yet....but with so much negative publicity, blame on any misdeed as making Asperger's 100% responsible and no responsibility of the press for balance, we might not b that far away from the above situation.

"Ok men. Now we have a dangerous situation coming up. A group of people with Aspergers are forming as a mass to petition against an Aspergers Murderer."

Who's petitioning against him?

All I want is to see the same procedures used in the criminal justice system for aspies or NTs. In other words, the guy should not get let off on account of AS, nor should the penalty be harsher either. Previous bullying from the victim may have a role to play, in the same as it would if the murderer was an NT being bullied by NTs.

Dead right. Sorry written badly. (Late and tired) Petition against his imprisonment/wrongful conviction - or maybe petition for him?

As I said in my previous post we don't know him, his personality or his motivation. A person is primarily a person first and foremostly. When sentencing someone for a crime I don't believe that their autism ought to be factored.
Sure we are more inclined to make social faux pas, sure we are more likely to get stressed by change in routine, sure we fail at reading body language, we are not more likely to commit murder. The former traits are as a result of autism, the later isn't.
I often say 98% of the population isn't autistic. We can not and should not expect society to completely conform to us as individuals.
If we are guilty of any crime we ought to expect to get treated as any member of society.

I would not petition against his imprisonment unless there was very strong evidence he was innocent.

LizHatter - some people want to start fights, not avoid them.

Liz, yep it was a ****** up thing to say! I agreed with Max totally in what he replied and I thought "What a ***!".
Then I thought about it a little while and considered how I sometimes express a point badly or offend unintentionally. So taking this into account, maybe you just did the same. Yeah you ****** up, yeah you caused offense, but this might not have been your aim so maybe I'll reserve judgement for the moment. You have done some good posts and as bad as this was maybe it was just a one-off mistake(?)

OK. I'll give you a little insight into my bullying history to see if it answers your questions about what I DID to bring the bullying onto myself.

My mother, fresh out of uni got placement in a small country town. She dated a couple of guys. A handsome Vietnam vet who was starting his own business and "going places", and a local farmer's son who was even then was fun but irresponsible, had a sense of humour that was childishly naughty or nasty, liked to socialise but drank too much and had a drink hard - play hard mentality.
So playing the field was fun and her first real break from schooling was good until she realised she was pregnant. She was not happy.
She, being Catholic, had to marry the loser farmer's son and made sure she made the child's life hell. Enter me. LOL.
My Father had been bullying throughout his life and boarded at Marist Brothers college (a branch of the infamous Christian Brothers). It came out in later years that both the Marist and Christian Brothers severely abused the boys under their care both physically and sexually. I know my father was at least physically abused. It completely messed him up. Now though he had someone who was subordinate to him and under his authority. Payback time. Enter Rossco. LOL.
I was slow at achieving any milestone developmentally. At school I was assessed in year 4 by the school appointed psychologist - slight mental retardation (Asperger's or high functioning autism weren't known about in 1979). I was basically written off by my parents - thankfully they had a normal son born in the meantime who became their golden boy.
By the time that the bullying became entrenched at school. (four to five groups bashing me daily) I was so used to being bullied at home I didn't understand it was wrong, it just made me feel bad. Not the pain thing - I am hypo-sensitive to pain, I just hated feeling unliked and had no social skills to make myself liked. I used to take beating after beating without even protecting or defending myself because I wasn't sure what the correct response was nor what I had done wrong. Sure i was small (my mother was 4'11" and on my first day at high school I was up to her shoulder) and skinny. I wasn't achieving well academically and a lot of kids from my old school "knew" I was a ***. I was very awkward socially. I was also unsure of what autistic-type traits such as stimming needed masking or hiding.
I also feared authority and the mere thought of getting into trouble for losing my temper stymied any effort on my part to address the issues
Finally Year 9, one of the bigger boys who used to bully me locked his fingers around mine on both hands for a game of mercy. He used his greater stregnth and leveraged height to bend them steadily further and further back. The reaction he and his crowd of supporters got was not expected. I quietly said , "You better break those fingers because I am going to beat crap out of you if you don't". The crowd egged him on and were rewarded by hearing the cracking of my knuckles. I kept telling him in that same voice to keep going. People started telling him to stop and that he was going to break my wrists and fingers. I encouraged him to continue. Finally the majority were screaming at him to stop and had heard too much cracking sounds. I hadn't made any protests. He let go of my hands and started to run away I ran screaming after him. I chased him around the school widly but he was too tall and fast for me. He and his gang avoided me. They were the first of a few of the gangs.
When I left school I used to go out drinking and fighting with my mates. I wanted to (Now I was taller and filled out a bit more) learn to fight better to be able to physically repel bullies. I also studied Tae Kwon Do and Savate. Liked learning the useful skills of blocking and how to minimise the effect of longer reach by using kicks from Tae Kwon Do. I loved Savate - designed by French Street Thug. After many fights I learnt how not only to take a beating but how to dish one up.
When picked on I am quick to respond verbally and have no qualms responding physically. I give bullies a chance to apologise or vanish and then go at them, irrespective of how big they are or who they are.
Unfortunately this has resulted in loss of friends and jobs.
Only in later years have I minimised the effects of bullying by learning to mask my autism better and let a little bit slide (I am 36 and mellowing a little now)

Anyhow Liz gauging from what you now understand about my bullying experiences, what do you think I did to bring bullying onto myself? I believe being born for my parents and being different to my peers. How dare I! LOL

OK. Liz I accept what you didn't necessarliy mean. I do it. I do it a lot being dyslexic. That is beyond the point though. What Max replied was spot on the mark. However if you really didn't mean what you said....well whatever.
I am not going to rehash this over again. I hope you understand that bullying is unfortunately outside of the control of those poor dudes that get bullied and that especially in males physical bullying is a first-case option. I am fairly fit and cut for a 36 year old bloke and would LOVE to meet up with a few of those bullies now. I would have some real fun with them.
As a sidenote I haven't seen my folks for about 10 years. The last two times I saw my Father (my first bully) I had to beat *** out of his drunken aggressive arse.
You managed to avoid the bullies. Well done best for you. I assure you. If nothing else better came out of it for me. It made me *** strong, tough and self-sufficient and that is worth domething in todays society.