Corkins sentenced
Floyd Lee Corkins was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Richard W. Roberts to 25 years in prison for wounding two people at the Family Research Council headquarters about 13 months ago according to the Washington Post. Corkins was foiled by a security guard, Leo Johnson, who took three rounds while he wrestled the gun from the nut;
In the most dramatic moment of the hearing, Johnson addressed Corkins directly from the courtroom lectern as more than a dozen of his colleagues from the Family Research Council watched.
Johnson, 47, told Corkins: “Although I forgive you, I will never forget. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same again.”
Corkins, you may remember, chose the Family Research Council for his intended murderous rampage because the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled it a “Hate Group” on it’s Hate Map. Police say that Corkins had two other addresses of conservative organizations in his pocket which he intended to attack when he was done at the FRC;
In a multimedia presentation in the courtroom, federal prosecutors described Corkins’s planning of the shooting as “deliberate and clear-headed.”
The day before, Corkins had purchased 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches that he carried in his backpack along with the 9mm SIG Sauer pistol he had bought earlier in the week. He planned to “smear” the sandwiches in the faces of his victims to make a political statement, according to court documents.
Nice. The Post goes on to say that Corkins was being treated for mental problems;
Six months before the shooting at the Family Research Council, Corkins was civilly committed to a mental hospital in San Francisco because he was having hallucinations and “thoughts of killing his parents and conservative right-wing Christians,” according to a memo his attorney prepared for sentencing.
Corkins was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder with psychotic features and was taking medication to treat his illness.
Yet he was still able to purchase a firearm legally. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? The prosecutor had asked for 11 1/2 years and the judge saw fit to double it plus more for good measure – just Corkins’ luck that his trial was scheduled for this week, I suppose. You’d think there’s be a law in DC that would prevent someone from bringing an unregistered gun into the District. Maybe they should make it a gun-free zone or something…oh, wait.
Category: Crime
Much kudos to the brave security officer Leo Johnson who tackled and knocked down the lunatic after taking three rounds, and all this while Mr. Johnson was unarmed…
Time for the Family Research Center to play the SLPC (Southern Prepostrious Lie Center)game and sue them for; and I quote Carl Sagan; -billions and billions.
but guys, the SPLC isnt a hate group, they only hate those they label as hate groups. FRC had it coming for spreading their hate. their message of families staying together and the importance of a father in the life of young children is pure hatred! they can not be allowed to try to improve the lives of young children with their hate!
Huh. I don’t know if I could forgive someone for shooting me, particularly if they came at me with that specific intention.
More evidence to support the hypothesis that being liberal is a mental illness. Some people just happen to suffer from the mental illness more than others, and a very few people among them have other, compounding mental illnesses that fester and eventually lead to this.
@1: Knowing our luck, the anti-gun types will crow triumphantly about the unarmed man taking on a man with a gun as “proof” we don’t need firearms.
SPLC is innocent of provoking this yet Palin is guilty of provoking Gifford shooter because of crosshairs on Congressional districts? Liberals have no shame.
Wait there isn’t an invisible force field around gun free zones that prevent guns from being brought in?
Since he was a lefty the MSM will refer to him as being mentally unstable. If he was conservative they would just call him a Gun Nut.
#4 PN: forgiving one’s enemies doubles their punishment. It is the best revenge: taking none, erasing the debt, and walking away – and they can’t.
Johnson is a brave man-doubly so for being able to forgive.
Those right wing anti gay Tea Party Republican racists!
oh wait…….
Good for the judge! That sentence almost smells like some form of justice.
I cannot stress enough how courageous I believe Mr. Johnson’s actions to be. However, I’m sure the FRC said the same thing about him, and showed their appreciation by keeping him unarmed. Granted, in DC, in order to have a private security officer armed, the employer usually has to obtain Special Police Officer (SPO) status for their officers. Obtaining SPO status can be a pain in the ass- essentially, as I’m sure you all realize, DC wants to keep obtaining a firearm as difficult as possible. It’s shameful.
Also- here’s a good article, written the day before sentencing:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/leo-johnson-hero-in-2012-family-research-council-shooting-to-attend-sentencing/2013/09/18/9a8632f6-1f93-11e3-b7d1-7153ad47b549_story.html
It’s a good read, especially because of the amount of attention devoted to “Leo the Hero”, as opposed to the skid mark of a human, Corkin.
Even better is the FRC security footage embedded in the article, showing the whole ordeal. FYI, even though it’s a desktop link, the video will work on mobiles (at least on iPhones, that’s what I’m on).
Cheers
Mark F