Killers' lawyers blame seminars

[davidinalameda]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/14/BAG75ABD6R1.DTL

this is called passing the buck my friends

Two men who killed five people in a bizarre extortion plot completed intense motivational "trainings" similar to those that garnered charges of brainwashing in the 1970s, and, their attorneys claim, the seminars contributed to their troubled state of mind.

Glenn and Justin Helzer's participation in Impact Trainings and similar programs run by Impact graduates, in Utah and Sacramento, profoundly affected the brothers and should be considered by jurors in Glenn Helzer's punishment, the attorneys argued.

They have also argued that drug use, mental illness and Glenn Helzer's belief that he was a prophet played a role in the grisly crimes he masterminded in 2000 and that his personal problems may have worsened his response to the trainings.