Geist, Carmel, Fishers

Marcus Schrenker Forum

This is a continuation of the Marcus Schrenker blog discussion from atGeist.com.

Tags: cocktail, cove, marc, marcus, schrenker

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cheryl Wright on April 23, 2009 at 2:24pm: Good one! Only...may I suggest an 'R.I.P.' for the one in the background!?! =); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bill Reiman on April 23, 2009 at 2:28pm: Yawnnnnn......you guys watch too much reality TV. He cuts a deal....no trial at the State level.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EnoughAlready! on April 23, 2009 at 4:13pm: Craig, you bring up a good point. Today's hearing was just about whether he is competent enough to stand trial in June. If there is no deal cut before then, I bet his defense at trial will be "not guilty by reason of insanity".

I still have to believe though that if a plea is reached on the Federal charges, he still would serve some sort of prison time. Faking a distress call and putting an unmanned plane on autopilot to crash God only knows where seem like actions that warrant at least a few years in prison, don't you think?

And for the sake of argument, let's say that he does go to trial and by some miracle is found not guilty by reason of insanity, does he then walk or would he be confined to a psychiatric institution for a period of time?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Patrick on April 23, 2009 at 4:39pm: Trial wise guys - It is a trial by jury! A FLORIDA JURY which is where he let his plan - uuuummmm - "land". A lot of people posting on the PNJ has voiced a lot of frustration and anger towards Marcus. The crime of letting a plane just land where it may will be viewed as an act of terrisiam or at the least the sheer fact that he did it to "escape" leaving no point of return once he left the aircraft. The pilots that flew to intercept were on the Today Show back in January and they were pi$$ed!!!! Marcus is not getting off scott free dudes. This is very serious.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EnoughAlready! on April 23, 2009 at 4:45pm: Patrick - that was my point exactly. With the seriousness of the charges in Florida, I find it very hard to believe that he walks away scott free or with just probation.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Craig on April 23, 2009 at 6:02pm: EA!, That would be institution confinment without a doubt. He is not simply going to waltz out of Florida with a wrist slapping not matter how the trial goes. It is certain he won't be found "not guilty" by jury unless of course there is a technicality somewhere that someone did not do something correct and you know what, that is a not rare event either. The other far stretch is that he gets a sympathetic juror that becomes infactuated with the guy. You know, the trailer park kind of love affair! That is all it would take.

The following excerpt is a little troubling to me.

Vinson said Tuesday that a psychiatric evaluation by doctors at a federal prison in Miami found Schrenker to be mentally competent and fit for trial.
Thomas Keith, Schrenker's federal public defender, agreed.
"He is currently competent to stand trial," Keith said in the brief hearing.
But Keith said he disagreed with parts of the sealed mental evaluation. He did not offer details, and declined to answer questions after the brief hearing.

And this:

and the trial has been set for June 8th. Jury Selection will begin that day at 9:00 a.m. Neither the U.S. Attorney or Shrenker's Attorney would comment on Thursday's proceeding.

This sounds funny to select a jury and start the trial the same day. That is more a Magistrate court protocol. It's going to be interesting no doubt.

I am going to be in Orlando June 7th - 21st. I may have to make the short run up to Pensacola for a couple of days of the trial. Kinda of an atGeist reporter....! LOL; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EnoughAlready! on April 23, 2009 at 7:08pm: Craig - the two possibilities you raised for Marcus being found "not guilty" are valid. Everyday I read about trials where the defendant is found not guilty because of shoddy police and/or investigation work. But I would bet that with this being such a high-profile case, investigators will make sure that all their i's are dotted and t's are crossed. Besides, the evidence here seems to be overwhelming, and not in Marcus' favor either. And it would be just Marcus' luck to find a sympathetic juror who becomes infatuated with him. All he would have to do would be to turn on the charm (and we all know by now that he is very capable of this) and boom, one juror who won't budge - not guilty - hung jury.

I think when they say that his trial will start on June 8th, they are referring to the formal proceedings. I doubt that they will actually start presenting both sides of the case on June 8th. I would imagine that it will take at least a few days to assemble a jury as you can bet that both sides (especially the defense) are going to be very picky about the people they choose.

I say if you can swing it, head to Pensacola for a day or two during the trial. It will be a media circus, so why not have our own atGeist reporter. You'd be great!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Craig on April 23, 2009 at 8:31pm: I don't think I can stand two weeks of Disney fun...LOL. Actually, my Son wants to attend some sort of Star Wars event at Disney Hollywood so I figured what the heck, lets just make a couple weeks of it and have some fun. I am sure I'll take a break and head up there a couple days.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EnoughAlready! on April 23, 2009 at 3:09pm: Good one Cheryl!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EnoughAlready! on April 23, 2009 at 4:23pm: As posted at MSNBC -

"U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson said that a psychiatric evaluation by doctors at a Federal prison in Miami found Schrenker to be mentally competent and fit for trial. Thomas Keith, Schrenker's federal public defender, agreed. 'He is currently competent to stand trial,' Keith said. Keith said he disagreed with parts of the sealed mental evaluation, but did not elaborate."; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EnoughAlready! on April 23, 2009 at 4:32pm: And as per IndyStar.com -

If Marcus is convicted of the criminal charges both in Florida and Indiana, he could face up to a maximum of 42 years in prison, $520,000 in fines, plus restitution.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Autox Geister on April 23, 2009 at 5:40pm: It appears that Marcus is headed for a trial and will face a hornet's nest of prospective jurors. I doubt that the US Attorney down in Pensacola, Florida is going to offer any kind of a soft plea deal in order to avoid trial.; ▶ Reply to This