PTSD on trial: When they can't just use it

PTSD is not the new "get out of jail free card" and this is an example of it.This came out before the trial.

Pardun was not a combat veteran.

Eugene murder suspect to use insanity defense By Assocaited Press and Eugene Register-Guard

Pardun's sister told The Register-Guard last summer that her brother never saw combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, but was traumatized by video images of a mortar attack on a helicopter that killed members of his brigade while he was recovering from an injury in the United States.

Yet he was treated for PTSD. The question is, since PTSD is only caused after trauma, how did he get it? Did he really have it? It seems as if he didn't.

Pardun told investigators the day of the shooting that he was under treatment for extreme post-traumatic stress disorder related to his Army service five years earlier.

The man he killed, was a Vietnam veteran with PTSD trying to help other veterans heal.

Thurston was a fellow veteran who had also battled PTSD following his service in the Vietnam War. Thurston later spent his career counseling troubled former soldiers at the same Eugene clinic where Pardun received medical and psychiatric care.

His life was taken and now his family has to live with the memory of this violent act. Pardun pleaded guilty. A medical exam showed he did not have PTSD.

Creswell man pleads guilty to killing neighbor
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — An Army veteran who claimed he suffered from post-traumatic stress despite never seeing combat has pleaded guilty to murder for shooting a neighbor in front of the man's wife and 3-year-old child.

Jarrod William Pardun of Creswell entered the plea Wednesday in Lane County Circuit Court in Eugene.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Patty Perlow says Pardun pleaded guilty after a mental examination found he was not suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Creswell man pleads guilty to killing neighbor

When veterans have PTSD, there is something called a flashback which takes them back to when their lives were in danger. This can also come when under stress. There are times when anger pushes out everything else, except one thing. They need to be held accountable for their actions. Yes, real PTSD needs to be taken into account when determining what true justice will be. In this case, the system seems to have worked well considering he admitted guilt after tests showed he did not have PTSD.

The aftermath of what he decided to do left a Vietnam veteran dead after trying to help real combat veterans with PTSD, a wife and a young child to not only grieve for the loss but try to recover with the trauma they went through because of Pardun. This also ends up hurting PTSD veterans the next time a judge has to consider PTSD as a factor or not.