NYT’s “War Torn” Giving Me PNYTTSD

The third installment of the New York Times’ “War Torn” is beginning to give me PNYTTSD – Post New York Times Turd Stress Syndrome: The urge to violently toss it in the trash. Fortunately, as this excremental series gets deeper, my suffering tour of its words is getting shorter, now 2751 versus 6253 for the first installment and 5219 for the second.

James Gregg returned from service in Iraq. After a night of partying and drinking, his girl dumped him for another. Gregg spun the wheels of his truck, spraying gravel on the other man’s. The other man beat him in a fist fight.

...Later that night, with one eye swollen shut and a fat lip, he drove to Mr. Fallis’s neighborhood.

Mr. Fallis emerged from a trailer, removed his jacket, asked Mr. Gregg if he had come back for more and opened the door to Mr. Gregg’s pickup truck. Mr. Gregg then reached for the pistol that he carried with him after his return from Iraq. He pointed it at Mr. Fallis and warned him to back away.

Mr. Fallis moved toward the trunk of his car, and Mr. Gregg testified that he believed Mr. Fallis was going to get a weapon. He started shooting to stop him, he said, and then Mr. Fallis veered toward his house. Mr. Gregg fired nine times, and struck Mr. Fallis with five bullets.

Gregg’s lawyers claimed sympathy and reduced sentence, and engaged expert witnesses, that Gregg was supposedly suffering violent PTSD.

Neither the jury nor the judge was buying it, although the jury’s finding was for second-degree rather than first-degree murder. The judge, presumedly a Democrat as former Senator Tom Daschle had sought to put him on the federal bench, said Gregg had “dodged the bullet.”

Nonetheless, the judge said that Mr. Gregg did not deserve any of the “downward departures” from sentencing guidelines that his lawyers had requested in consideration of his military service, his PTSD and his crime-free record. The mandatory minimum for a federal offense involving a gun is 10 years, and Mr. Gregg’s lawyers indicated that they hoped he would be sentenced to no more than 12.

Judge Kornmann handed down a 21-year sentence.

The New York Times’ narrative presents some arguments for and against the aggressive defense use of PTSD to avoid or reduce sentences for violent crimes. The defense exploitation of this defense seems obvious, to gain sympathy.

The New York Times still hasn’t told us why, now 14,223 words into “War Torn”, its exploitation of a few crimes committed by veterans should so outweigh coverage of the overwhelming majority’s heroism and successful reintegration into civilian life. That, too, seems obvious.