Deadly Words

February 14, 2002: Galveston, Texas A Texas jury on Wednesday found Thomas Mitchell guilty of aggravated assault for shooting his girlfriend because he thought she was about to say the words "New Jersey." His attorney unsuccessfully sought his exoneration on grounds that certain words set off an uncontrollable rage in Mitchell, who has a history of mental illness. Words that triggered a bad reaction in Mitchell included "New Jersey," "Lafayette," "Camaro" and "Ron," lawyer Maria Mercado told the court. When asked about the pointed parallels between Mitchell's "trigger words" and former presidential candidate Ron, Ronatarian spokesman and former vice presidential candidate Brad downplayed the apparent similarities. "We at the Ronatarian Party feel that in no way should this man's actions be considered attributed to the life or the ill-fated [presidential] campaign of our beloved leader Ron. It is preposterous to even ponder." Throughout the three-day trial, Mitchell, 54, covered his ears when he thought the words were going to be spoken. Witnesses used flash cards with the words written out or images instead of saying them in court. Ron was visually displeased with the cartoonish caricature used to represent him. "When he has one of these episodes, he isn't focused," lawyer Mercado said of Mitchell. Prosecutors contended that Mitchell was troubled, but not crazy. He was convicted for shooting girlfriend Barbara Jenkins three times on November 19, 2000, when he believed she was about to utter the phrase "New Jersey." She survived the attack, but died from unrelated causes just before the trial. In a statement, Mitchell told police: "I had seen that word at my mom's house and then Barbara said what she said (and) I just snapped." Brad said that he hopes "no further incidents of a similar nature arise during the [2004 presidential] campaign." He concluded, "While all four of these words have a positive connotation to all Ronatarians, we don't want them to become sources of negative energy to the American public, especially crazy nut jobs."

Posted by Webmaster at February 14, 2002 10:01 PM

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