Man claims caffeine insanity after being accused of strangling wife

The murder suspect was drinking five or six soft drinks and energy drinks a day, along with taking diet pills; it all added up to more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day. (Associated Press)

Comments

[Phranqlin]

I don't suffer from caffeine insanity -- I enjoy every minute of it!

Seriously, "caffeine insanity" is merely the latest version of the "Twinkie defense" or "gay panic" -- i.e., a bunch of utter bullshit that a murderer cites to try to get off the hook.

[kestrelmas]

...dude. Caffeine insanity was something I did when I was 19. I'd have a friend in from out of town, and we'd have pots of coffee on Friday, thrown in with enough soda to drown in a bathrub, bags of pixie-sticks...

...by the time next Thursday rolled around, we had spent 6 days laughing at video game character deaths, no sleep from watching horror films combined with the sugar/caffeine induced haze, sketchbooks full of barely-recognizeable stuff, and we'd crash until the following Sunday.

...oh those were the days. We didn't strangle anyone though. We were too busy laughing hysterically at everything and everyone.

[KDP]

Any wonder why lawyers are held up as such slimy characters?

[Tom Weidermeijer]

Honestly... with all the cop/forensic drama shows on TV today, you couldn't come up with a better lie than caffine?

Congrats Woody-Will, you made it to the OS&RR with that answer. Enjoy prison. Watch your butt.

Excuse me, gotta go get another Mt. Dew now.

[stopeatingmysesamecake]

Is it just me or do all the Red Bull/Rockstar/etc drinks just taste like crap? I'd rather be tired.

[BlueMary]

The caffeine intoxication is probably legit. However, to me it should serve only as a mitigating factor for sentencing.

After all not only did the guy murder his wife, he spent days getting hopped up so he could actually commit the crime and not pussy out at the last minute. As a mitigating factor, it should INCREASE the sentence. Since the current sentence is limited to life in prison; increase it to the Death by Bonga Bonga and call it a day.

[BB]

This is the same as saying he was high on drugs or drunk when he committed the crime. No one forced him to consume those products. This is no excuse for murder in any court I know of.

[ReginaFilangee]

Jim, I'm hoping you don't post this on your Starbucks site. No need to give them any ideas, especially considering how hostile some of them seem to be anyway, lol.

or.....

Maybe we could coin a new phrase: "Going all Starbucks on someone" ???

[Sheila]

Kentucky has the death penalty. Is the prosecutor not pursuing this murder as a death penalty case?

[ReginaFilangee]

All of us at some point or another (especially if one has gone through college final exams) have been "out of our minds" all hopped up on excessive caffeine consumption and/or lack of sleep for days on end.

Still, I doubt any of us committed murder as a result. If so, it's still murder, and should be treated as such.

No sympathy from me. I call BS.

Next thin we know, people will be using "sugar intoxication" or nicotine withdrawal as an excuse for violent crimes. Tough tootie fruities, I say.

[icecycle]

"sugar intoxication" has been used; Dan White "Twinki" defense.
400 milligrams of caffeine seems kind of a pansy ass dose; I don't unzombifie before I get 600. At least.
I think they should have stuck with "sugar intoxication" as a lot of those "energy sodas" are loaded with corn syrup; that did not, by the way, work out well for Dan White.

[jojo]

Caffine insanity is what I have when I DON'T get my coffee!! Load me up and I'm good for the day!

[kestrelmas]

I've never done the energy drinks.

Look up Taurine (an ingredient in most energy drinks) on Google or Wikipedia. Blech.

[ReginaFilangee]

Taurine is an important nutrient, kestrelmas. You get it naturally if you eat meat, seafood, etc. Without it, many systems in your body cannot properly function.

That said, the extra amount put into energy drinks is probably not needed....but it's not harmful.

[kestrelmas]

Yeah, and it's in breast milk too...

I still wouldn't drink energy drinks. Too many synthesized chemicals. My roommates go through them like water, though... and they wonder why they don't sleep...

[many]

Death by Caffeine

[Jamie]

I don't really like energy drinks either. I just can't believe this idiot is serious. If you think you're wife is going to leave you and you are afraid of it, killing her is hardly the way to keep her. I've never understood it when these craziest do that.

[Sceptic]

Bullshit.