Fixation

Over the past few weeks, I've been following the reporting on the recent murders of the four college students in Moscow, Idaho.  For those who don't know about this tragedy I'll give a brief summary of what happened.  In the early morning hours of November 13,  four students at the University of Idaho--Ethan Chapin (20), Kaylee Goncalves (21), Xana Kernodle (20), and Madison Mogen (21)--were stabbed to death in an off-campus rental house.  After just a month, this horrific crime remains under investigation by local and state law enforcement, and the FBI.

Some of the reporting has included input from former law enforcement officials, including profilers (e.g. Mary Ellen O'Toole), giving their opinions about the case.  Much of this has been along the lines of careful criminal profiling.  Early on, some spent time talking about the murder weapon--perhaps a large knife--and they talked about the offender possibly having a knife fixation.  This got me to thinking about what a gun fixation would look like.

Before I go on, I just want to pause to remind myself and readers that Mary Gioia and Greg Kiffin were 22 years-old and 18 years-old (respectively) when they were brutally murdered in August of 1985.

One definition of 'fixation' is, "an obsessive interest in or feeling about something or someone."  Did Ralph Thomas have a gun fixation? Here are some things one might consider in trying to answer this question.

• This is from People v. Thomas, p. 24: "The trial court took judicial notice of defendant's 12 prior felony convictions. On July 24, 1974, in Monterey County, defendant was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of armed robbery. On November 1, 1974, in Alameda County, defendant was convicted of two counts of kidnapping, two counts of rape, two counts of violating section 288, subdivision (a), two counts of robbery, and one count of sodomy. The jury in that case found true the allegations that defendant was armed with a deadly weapon (a handgun) during the commission of the offenses, used the weapon in committing the kidnappings, rapes, and robberies, and acted in concert in committing the rapes and sodomy."

• Also from People v. Thomas (p. 16): "The search of defendant's Rainbow Village space and his automobile yielded, among other things, a number of notebooks and sheets of paper containing handwritten references to various firearms and weapons, and a pamphlet entitled ‘Tips for Shooters.’ During the trial, defense counsel sought to exclude testimony by Detective Wolke regarding those items, arguing they were irrelevant to any disputed issue and unduly prejudicial. The trial court overruled the defense objection, reasoning that the items ‘did tend to show a preoccupation with weapons and that would be some evidence that he would be very unlikely to not have reported [the theft of his rifle] to the police if, in fact, it had been stolen."

• And one last thing from People v. Thomas (p. 16): "Defendant refused to tell [Detective] Wolke whether he knew anyone at Rainbow Village who owned rearms. Asked if he owned any guns, defendant said he had a Remington .44 magnum bolt action rifle without a clip. He recited the serial number from memory."