Kansas 'Swat' Perpetrator Is Now Also Wanted in Florida (kansas.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Florida police recount how close they were to aresting 25-year-old Tyler Barriss before his fake call to Kansas police led to a fatal shooting. "Panama City Beach police Lt. J.R. Talamantez told the Panama City News Herald that police had tied Barriss to about 30 other bomb threats," reports the Wichita Eagle -- a full month before another call led to the fatal shooting of a father of two in Kansas. But attempts to secure an arrest warrant may have been slowed by the lack of an address, since apparently Barriss "lived in a shelter in South Los Angeles. Police there found him in a local library."

A Florida newspaper reports that their local police department is now doing what they can to right the situation. "Lt. J.R. Talamantez, cyber crimes investigator with the Panama City Beach police, said the department currently has two felony warrants issued for Barris' arrest and is providing the U.S. Attorney's Office with information... Talamantez said the end goal is to identify all victims of Barriss' calls and bring him to justice on all those incidents... "We just want to send a message that this isn't going to end with a slap on the wrist. The victims will see an appropriate punishment."

Comments

Re:Appropriate punishment

[geoskd]

He'll maybe get a stay in a psych ward somewhere, and then be freed when the psychiatrists get bored with him.

That's not the way that process works.

The way it actually works, is the judge finds that a defendant is incapable of understanding the consequences of their actions, and orders that the defendant be held in an institution for such people (This is a process known as being involuntarily committed, and can be undertaken by a judge or a family member). If at such a time in the future, the person in question is planned for release from the facility in question, they are remanded back to the custody of the court, and the original proceedings are continued. This is not a get out of jail free card, unless you mistakenly think that involuntary commitment is anything other than a prison.

Once a person has been committed, even the entity that committed them cannot get them released without the facilities consent or a court order to that effect.