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Christmas Day murder suspect feared evil government conspiracy

January 31, 2012

Andrew Downs

The Atascadero man who allegedly shot and killed two sisters in Santa Margarita in 2010 thought they were military leaders in an evil government conspiracy against the world, a forensic psychiatrist testified Monday. [Tribune]

During the first day of Andrew Downs’ trial, Dr. Charles Scott said Downs, a diagnosed schizophrenic, was insane when he killed sisters Beverly Reilly and Kathy Yeager in Santa Margarita on Christmas Day 2010.  Downs, 21, is also accused of stealing three vehicles, entering a second home in Santa Margarita and beating a man with a crescent wrench.

Scott testified that Downs’ well-documented history of mental illness includes episodes in 2010 where Downs was “found outside his home naked, sleeping in a barn, telling friends that aliens had started to kill people and families, telling people that half of Atascadero was dead and saying that the end of the world was coming,” the Tribune said.

If Judge John Trice determines Downs was insane at the time of the killings, he will be committed to a state mental health facility. If not, Downs could be sentenced to state prison.


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I think this poor man has suffered greatly throughout his life. I doubt he is the minion of Satan, just a man with advanced mental illness. I would not want his life. I’m very sorry for his victims, however, I am sorry for him as well.


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What a tragedy ! If only this obviously sick person had been monitored and given treatment, certainly removed from society where he could do little or lesser harm .


But, what’s done is done …and two innocent ladies are now mourned.

Let us hope that their untimely demise may have some ultimate greater purpose. Their sacrifice may have indeed prevented Mr. Downs being recruited to run for some political office by the Republicans, as his conspiratorial opinions are so similar to their own.


One can only hope.


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SLOWERFASTER you are a douche bag. Why else would you use this tragedy to spout ignorant political opinions.


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@ lakerhater ( thank you for that descriptive user name ) …


I simply read the article, and where it says that Downs rationalized his crimes because he believed that the victims were, ” military leaders in an evil government conspiracy against the world” . How is this different from Right-wing blogs such as Redstate, or Freerepublic, or the John Birchers, and myriads of others of their fellow travelers that constantly rail against a supposed “New World Order” , the Trilateral Commission, Opus Dei, the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, and many other murky societies ?

Ron Paul and his merry band of Anarchists that want to blow up the Federal Reserve ?

Thes flying loons are all over the place !


And where Downs asserts that “aliens (are ) killing people and families”; it sounds so much like those Teabaggers ranting about President Obama being some secret ARAB, or MUSLIM, or KENYAN, or MAU-MAU, with all their idiocy about ‘birth certificates’


These kind of LIES, NONSENSE and PROPAGANDA feed into the strange hallucinations of these distirbed and deranged people like Downs.


THAT is what leads to tragedies such as this .


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Brother Slowerfaster,


Yes, this minion of Satan named Andrew should have been monitored since it was known he had severe mental problems! In the same vein, some of the Republican far right-wingers and Tea Party individuals should be monitored as well!


Who comes to mind in this respect is Grover Norquist, Jim Demint, Caribou Barby, et al. Subjectively, this bunch, and many more, are just “pants on head crazy!”


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