French Court Waives Trial for Antisemitic Murderer Because He Took ‘Delusional Puff’ of Weed

The highest court in France on Wednesday began deliberations on whether to overrule a lower court’s decision not to put the alleged antisemitic murderer of a Jewish woman on criminal trial because his excessive consumption of marijuana triggered a “delirious episode” that made him not responsible for his actions.

The actions included brutally beating his 65-year-old neighbor before throwing her out of the window of her third-floor apartment to her death while screaming Allah Akbar.

The Court of Cassation (apellate’s) has launched the hearing on Paris Court of Appeal’s Dec. 2019 decision to excuse 27-year-old Kobili Traore from standing trial on the basis that his heavy consumption of cannabis before the death compromised his “discernment.”

The court maintained Traore’s “delusional puff” negated any criminal responsibility for the April 2017 death, sparking an outcry from France’s Jewish community, The Algemeiner reported.

The judge did, however, concede the Traore was an antisemite. While he was beating Halimi up, Traore screamed Islamist and anti-Semitic slogans.

However, despite the high court’s deliberations, the report cited France’s Advocate-General as saying “will rule in favor of confirming the criminal irresponsibility of the perpetrator of the murder.”

If that happens, Traore would not receive any jailtime but instead will be held in a mental health institution until doctors deem him fit to be released back into society. At that point, the only penalty he would face is being barred from contacting Halimi’s family for 20 years.

Muriel Ouaknine Melki — a lawyer representing the Halimi family — argued that French law is more likely to call for further penalization for people who commit crimes while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

“I want to recall that for several offenses, for example the crime of rape, taking narcotics is an aggravating circumstance. In willful violence, it is also an aggravating circumstance,” she said.

She added that the case, should it not go to trial, would mark a watershed moment for French citizens as a whole because it would mean that “the consumption of narcotics can be a cause for exonerating from penal responsibility in criminal matters.”