|
Post by Angela on Aug 23, 2009 7:59:41 GMT -5
I'm sure we all remember the thread with 59 posts in it in the old forum about Michael Hayes from Winston-Salem who went on a killing spree on Old Walkertown Road in 1988, killing 4 people and wounding 5 others claiming that he believed they were demons. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has been a patient at Dorothea Dix State Mental Hospital for the criminally insane for 21 years now. I encountered this dangerous cold bloodied killer at the Mordecai House during Halloween week in Raleigh, N.C. in 2007. If you remember I took a couple of photos of him and is wife and 2 children and the Journalist Scott Sexton wrote a lengthy article about my encounter with Michael Hayes in the Winston-Salem paper. Every year he has been brought to court in Winston-Salem to determine if he is well enough to be released from the hospital or still not well enough and therefore re-committed for another year. So far he has been re-committed each time. Unfortunately that may change in a few weeks. He very well may be released from the hospital in about 3 weeks. The Supreme Court has ruled that Michael Hayes is due to be retried on his 2007 hearing because an option for conditional release was not presented at that trial. Only 2 options had been presented...re-committment or un-conditional release. Therefore, the Supreme Court declared that there is no way to know if Michael Hayes might have been released on the conditional release if it had been offered as an opton. Therefore he is eligible for a re-trial on that the week of September 14 of this year which is only 3 and a half weeks from now. He stands a VERY good chance of getting out at that time. SCARY. SCARY. Maria
|
|
|
Post by Angela on Aug 23, 2009 11:27:02 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by debbie on Aug 23, 2009 15:53:53 GMT -5
I hate to hear that, but he is already out of the institution more than he is in it. He spends many days with his children and wife and even has a job. I DO BELIEVE he is still a threat, and would love to see him stay in the hospital indefinitely. Sounds to me like he got more of a slap on the wrist, with all the freedom he has, than paying for the crime he committed.
|
|
|
Post by Angela on Aug 23, 2009 17:28:10 GMT -5
I seriously doubt he'll come back to Winston-Salem to live. Probably not in Raleigh with his girlfriend either. He will in all likelihood change his name and move to an undisclosed location. In fact I seriously doubt if the public will even be told the exact date he will be released. Maria
|
|
|
Post by debbie on Aug 24, 2009 6:39:53 GMT -5
Because Michael Hayes and his attorneys relied on the insanity plea for defense, the public and the victims family members will more likely than not be notified if he is released. [2] Respondent's second and third contentions under the equal protection argument are also without merit, especially in light of respondent's special status. N.C. Gen. Stat. 122C-268.1(g) provides that an insanity acquittee's hearing shall take place in the trial division in which the original trial was held and that it shall be open to the public. In contrast, hearings involving other involuntarily committed persons are closed and confidential. N.C. Gen. Stat. 122C-52 (1989). As we have stated above, the insanity acquittee is entitled to fewer constitutional protections than an individual who is civilly committed. The acquittee makes the tactical decision to rely on the insanity defense, therefore, the public has a right to know when and if such an individual is discharged into the community. Particularly in a case such as the one at bar, we believe that the surviving families and victims have a right to know if and when respondent will be released back into the community. www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/nc-supreme-court/aug0393/hayes
|
|
|
Post by Angela on Aug 24, 2009 7:37:32 GMT -5
An article in the W-S Journal several years ago said that the exact day of his release would not be made public nor would his intended living location due to a number of threats made on his life if and when he was ever released. Whether it will be made public or not I don't know. Just repeating what I heard when the father of one of Hays's victims said he would be at Dorothea Dix the day of hs release and that he would kill him. He even said that on television.
|
|
|
Post by angel71242 on Aug 24, 2009 8:48:04 GMT -5
WHAT!!! This is horrible. That blankety blank should NEVER get out. Crystal Cantrell never got the chance to get married and have children and a job and she never will. Her and the others have been dead in the ground for 20 years, not getting to live their lives at all and this piece of $#&% gets to have a family and probably get out for good soon. It's so unfair. SO UNFAIR!!!!!!
|
|
|
Post by tiffany on Aug 24, 2009 12:32:32 GMT -5
So true, Angel. It can just make you so mad at the unfairness.
|
|
|
Post by nascartim on Aug 24, 2009 19:55:41 GMT -5
I remember when this happen because everybody in Winston-Salem was real upset about it. It was one of the worst crimes to ever occur here. I hung out alot on Old Salisbury Road before the killings. In fact, I was riding up Old Salisbury Road while the shootings was going on but the sheriff told me to turn around and go back the other way.He told me somebody was shooting at people in cars. I heard about what happen later that night and it scared me half to death when I realized how easily i could have been one of the people that was killed I came that close. I hope he never gets out. Tim Bowman
|
|
|
Post by sissy on Aug 25, 2009 7:51:42 GMT -5
Omg how lucky you were that day, I am so glad you are safe Tim. I remember that story, I can't believe they are letting him out.
|
|
|
Post by angel71242 on Aug 25, 2009 8:53:26 GMT -5
Wow Tim! You were very lucky that day. That gave me chill bumps!
|
|
|
Post by Angela on Aug 25, 2009 9:07:10 GMT -5
OH MY GOOD TIM, I did not know this about you. When I read this it sent chills all over me.I can't even imagine how frightening it would be coming so close to being killed by Michael Hayes like you were. If that had been me I would still be shaking these 21 years later. To think I would never have met you or gotten to know you and have you for a friend makes me even angrier at Michael Hayes. Such a thing is just not an acceptable option. Thank God you escaped an encounter with him at that time on that night. I just wish those that were killed had escaped him too. It makes me feel so sad for their loved ones. May Michael Hayes never be released.
|
|
|
Post by debbie on Aug 25, 2009 14:11:51 GMT -5
That's what I call a serious "brush" with death, So glad you are here to tell us about it, but that is terrifying.
|
|
|
Post by Angela on Sept 12, 2009 15:09:49 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by smpyrtle on Sept 12, 2009 19:28:23 GMT -5
Maria, thanks for posting this. I'm glad that he will be there for another year. I can't quite understand why he has the freedoms that he enjoys. He has a family, a job and doesn't stay at the hospital except for a few days a week. He gets to enjoy time with his family. The victims have been denied these freedoms due to his actions. It's hard not to get angry with the justice system. I know that if it had been my daughter that had been killed I would never want him to have these freedoms. I can understand the feelings of the victims families.
|
|