> Insane
> Another killer released

> If you still wonder why Americans are fed up with the judicial system, look no further than Kansas City, and the case of Gary Rawlings, Jr., 39.

> In 1987, Rawlings killed a 23-year-old Kansas City woman by shooting her in the head while she slept, and two years later, he was declared not guilty by reason of insanity. According to The Kansas City Star, Rawlings is a paranoid schizophrenic who shot the woman after she threatened to leave him. The Star noted: "He later told authorities she was trying to 'poison' him with microwaves."

> When Rawlings was arrested, he had a sawed-off shotgun, a .45 caliber pistol, a high-powered rifle, extra ammunition and a police scanner. Authorities never did find the 9 mm pistol that he used to shoot his victim.

> But within a year of the sentencing, and within three years of the murder, Rawlings was back out on the streets, receiving his first conditional release in 1990. And in the following eight years, he won eight more conditional releases, his last one being cancelled when he forgot to take his medication, the paper reported.

> The father of the murdered girl wants to know why, at the very least, Rawlings hasn't had to turn over the missing pistol before being released. Excellent question. We have to ask which is the more insane? The paranoid schizophrenic who kills, or the system that puts him back on the streets as if the crime never happened?

> Immediately after the killer's first release, the family of the victim began demanding changes in the law to keep killers like Rawlings locked away, but once again, we see that the system seems designed for the benefit of the criminals, and not for the protection of society.

> Legislators have been making changes, toughening sentencing guidelines, for example, because of efforts by the victims' families in these and other cases, such as the nearby murders committed by Donald Ray Gideon and Gary Kleypas.

> But the system has a long way to go before it will have the confidence of the public. A long way to go.