Fathers Who Kill
Mentally Ill or Malingering?
TruTV
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/psychology/fathers_who_kill/8.html
Paul Harrington
A program on Court TV's The System featured the case of a man who killed his entire family twice. War hero, Vietnam veteran, and Detroit cop, Paul Harrington shot and killed his wife and two daughters, 6 and 9, in 1975. Under questioning, he admitted that he'd been haunted by a raid in Vietnam, where he'd killed a mother and her four children. The incident had disturbed him for years. His sister said that after he came home from that war, he was never the same. Working as a cop had kept the memory fresh. He had trouble keeping himself balanced and stable, so he turned to alcohol.
He'd been to a psychiatrist to discuss his fear that he might one day harm his family or himself. (Some psychiatrists might say this was a way to stage a premeditated murder, but others cite it as proof of seeking help.) The psychiatrist Harrington saw urged him to stay with his family over the holidays, but that turned out to have been a bad idea. He seemed to just snap and within moments, his entire family was dead.
Harrington was medicated and put on a watch in a psychiatric institution for 17 months before he went to trial. All the experts agreed that he had been insane at the time of the crime. He was committed to the state psychiatric hospital. He stayed there for less than two months and was then released --assessed as not being a danger to himself or others. That was the law. Thus, a year and a half after killing three people, Harrington was a free man. No one monitored him. He sued the psychiatrist for not hospitalizing him when he needed it, and reached a settlement. Thus, he not only killed his family but also appeared to profit from it.
Harrington got married again in 1982 and had two sons. By the 1990s, he had a substance abuse problem, submitted again to psychiatric care for anxiety and depression, and in 1999 repeated his atrocity. He'd had hallucinations, he said, of being told to go kill people. In debt, with no car, no job and no money to buy his psychiatric drugs, he swung into a dangerous state and killed his wife and one of his sons.
Wanda and Brian Harrington
Again, he went on trial. Since he had borrowed his neighbor's gun the night before—which he used—the prosecution said it was clearly premeditated. Several psychiatrists testified once again that he had been insane—it was a flashback to the first incident. But Dr. Charles Clark for the prosecution tested Harrington and said he was malingering a mental illness. Clark did not accept the idea that Harrington was suffering from Vietnam flashbacks. Apparently, his opinion carried the most weight.
This time Harrington was found guilty and received a life sentence.
Even so, the families of the victims claim that the mental health system had failed them all. Had he been given the help he needed the first time, they believe, the string of tragedies could have been avoided.
Harrington's mental problems were well-documented, but sometimes a clever psychopath can convince a lot of people that he's mentally ill. Both men in the following two cases told countless lies, trying to make their crimes appear to be the result of forces beyond their control.
Slayings called act of kindness
Ex-cop talks about killing family
October 19, 1999
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Paul Harrington had recently lost his job, was behind in rent and was starting to feel the financial pressure of supporting a wife and two children with no income.
So Harrington, a former Detroit policeman, thought it better to kill his wife and 3-year-old son than to see them homeless.
That, Detroit homicide detectives say, is what Harrington told them in a confession.
He told them he borrowed a gun from a friend Thursday, the night before the shooting, and killed Wanda Harrington and 3-year-old Brian early Friday morning. Afterward, he called 911.
When uniformed officers arrived at the home on West Grand Boulevard, Harrington, 53, told them he had killed his family.
"He said he couldn't support them so he had to kill them," said Sgt. Felix Kirk of the Detroit Police Department homicide unit. "He was under pressure trying to take care of his family. He said he didn't want to see them in the street."
Detectives said Harrington told them his last job was at a steel company in Livonia. Harrington was arraigned Saturday in 36th District Court on two counts of first-degree murder. He is being held without bond in the Wayne County Jail.
In 1975, Harrington faced three murder charges -- for the deaths of his wife and their two children in December. Harrington shot Becky, 28, and their daughters, Pamela, 9, and Cassandra, 4. He was fired from the police force after being charged with the triple homicide. In 1977, Recorder's Court Judge Susan Borman found Harrington not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered him committed for psychiatric treatment. Borman could not be reached for comment Monday.
Two months after his treatment began, Harrington was released from the program.
Harrington, a Vietnam veteran with a history of psychological problems, told homicide detectives this week he was under the care of a therapist and had been without some medication for about a week.
A Wayne County assistant prosecutor says last week's slayings were cold-blooded, calling for first-degree-murder charges. "Based on the information that was provided to me by the police department, I felt that was an appropriate charge," said Ralph Elizondo.
12012000 - Officer Paul Harrington - Murder of Second Wife And Son - Sentenced - Detroit PD
Slayings called act of kindness
Ex-cop talks about killing family
October 19, 1999
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Paul Harrington had recently lost his job, was behind in rent and was starting to feel the financial pressure of supporting a wife and two children with no income.
So Harrington, a former Detroit policeman, thought it better to kill his wife and 3-year-old son than to see them homeless.
That, Detroit homicide detectives say, is what Harrington told them in a confession.
He told them he borrowed a gun from a friend Thursday, the night before the shooting, and killed Wanda Harrington and 3-year-old Brian early Friday morning. Afterward, he called 911.
When uniformed officers arrived at the home on West Grand Boulevard, Harrington, 53, told them he had killed his family.
"He said he couldn't support them so he had to kill them," said Sgt. Felix Kirk of the Detroit Police Department homicide unit. "He was under pressure trying to take care of his family. He said he didn't want to see them in the street."
Detectives said Harrington told them his last job was at a steel company in Livonia. Harrington was arraigned Saturday in 36th District Court on two counts of first-degree murder. He is being held without bond in the Wayne County Jail.
In 1975, Harrington faced three murder charges -- for the deaths of his wife and their two children in December. Harrington shot Becky, 28, and their daughters, Pamela, 9, and Cassandra, 4. He was fired from the police force after being charged with the triple homicide. In 1977, Recorder's Court Judge Susan Borman found Harrington not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered him committed for psychiatric treatment. Borman could not be reached for comment Monday.
Two months after his treatment began, Harrington was released from the program.
Harrington, a Vietnam veteran with a history of psychological problems, told homicide detectives this week he was under the care of a therapist and had been without some medication for about a week.
A Wayne County assistant prosecutor says last week's slayings were cold-blooded, calling for first-degree-murder charges. "Based on the information that was provided to me by the police department, I felt that was an appropriate charge," said Ralph Elizondo.
Slayings called act of kindness
Ex-cop talks about killing family
October 19, 1999
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Paul Harrington had recently lost his job, was behind in rent and was starting to feel the financial pressure of supporting a wife and two children with no income.
So Harrington, a former Detroit policeman, thought it better to kill his wife and 3-year-old son than to see them homeless.
That, Detroit homicide detectives say, is what Harrington told them in a confession.
He told them he borrowed a gun from a friend Thursday, the night before the shooting, and killed Wanda Harrington and 3-year-old Brian early Friday morning. Afterward, he called 911.
When uniformed officers arrived at the home on West Grand Boulevard, Harrington, 53, told them he had killed his family.
"He said he couldn't support them so he had to kill them," said Sgt. Felix Kirk of the Detroit Police Department homicide unit. "He was under pressure trying to take care of his family. He said he didn't want to see them in the street."
Detectives said Harrington told them his last job was at a steel company in Livonia. Harrington was arraigned Saturday in 36th District Court on two counts of first-degree murder. He is being held without bond in the Wayne County Jail.
In 1975, Harrington faced three murder charges -- for the deaths of his wife and their two children in December. Harrington shot Becky, 28, and their daughters, Pamela, 9, and Cassandra, 4. He was fired from the police force after being charged with the triple homicide. In 1977, Recorder's Court Judge Susan Borman found Harrington not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered him committed for psychiatric treatment. Borman could not be reached for comment Monday.
Two months after his treatment began, Harrington was released from the program.
Harrington, a Vietnam veteran with a history of psychological problems, told homicide detectives this week he was under the care of a therapist and had been without some medication for about a week.
A Wayne County assistant prosecutor says last week's slayings were cold-blooded, calling for first-degree-murder charges. "Based on the information that was provided to me by the police department, I felt that was an appropriate charge," said Ralph Elizondo.
Paul Harrington
Wanda and Brian Harrington