Milford Teen Sentenced to 25 Years for Fatal Stabbing

Christopher Plaskon wanted to go to the prom with Maren Sanchez back in April of 2014. Sanchez turned him down, and then tragedy struck.

On the day of his Junior Prom, Plaskon fatally stabbed Sanchez to death because of the rejection. According to Milford Patch, Plaskon has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, but could be released after 13 years.

Plaskon's attorneys argued that at the time of the attack, he was suffering from a mental disease or defect and/or extreme emotional disturbance. Plaskon told his family that he heard voices in his head that told him to kill Sanchez.

Back in March of this year, the estate of Maren Sanchez filed a lawsuit against the Milford Board of Education, the City of Milford, Plaskon, and his parents David and Kathleen Plaskon, stating that in 2013, she had gone directly to the high school guidance department, and told them directly that she was sure that Plaskon was emotionally disturbed and was threatening to commit suicide or acts of self harm. The lawsuit claims that the guidance department did not communicate her concerns to the school principal, school security, or the Department of Children and Families, and now she's dead.

A teenager goes to prison, which will destroy his life, and he'll come out much worse off than when he began his incarceration. Judges, attorneys, police, and folks like you and I don't know what to do with individuals who commit heinous crimes because of a mental illness. Is placing them in prison the answer? Our justice system uses prisons as mental health hospitals. Those prisons are not and never will be able to help prisoners overcome their mental illness.

So, what do we do with the mentally ill who've committed horrible crimes, you can't just let them go. This is a problem for the ages with no solutions in sight. There are hundreds of thousands of mentally ill prisoners and I bet a large majority of them wish they were dead.

Listen to Ethan Carey on the Ethan & Lou Show weekdays from 5:30-10AM on 95.1 FM. You can listen online at i95rock.com/listen-live/ or by downloading the radioPupapp for your mobile device.