So he orders the man off his property, a while later Arbogast enters his home without permission and Norman killed him thinking he was a burglar or serial killer.
Obviously we know Norman won't call the police etc. But suppose he did and hid mother's corpse in the cellar, not that the sheriff would look there anyway, but would Norman stand a chance in court?
Yes he could have, all he had to say was that he feared for his life, although given his severely unbalanced emotional state I doubt he even thought about that.
shareWell, as far as Norman was concerned, Mother committed this killing, so if he were to seek a "self defense defense," he'd have to take on the blame himself "for Mother." Could he DO that, in his twisted mind?
This raises another interesting question: the usual "stand your ground defense of your castle" killing is done with a GUN. Would a jury or judge look more unfavorably upon a self defense killing that involved slashing the intruder's face and stabbing him over and over again?
Bottom line...it MIGHT work, on its face, with no other factors present...but the investigation as to WHY Arbogast entered the house is an investigation that neither Norman, nor Mother, wished to have occur.
I agree with the other 2 posters. The mother part of his personality would never allow him to inform the authorities about what happened. Actually now thinking of it, right after Mary is killed, and Norman comes and cleans up the mess, he looks like he is a bit angry while cleaning up the mess and disposing of the body like he wishes he could tell the authorities about what happened but not being able to since he can't control his mother's personality within him.
shareAs far as Norman was concerned he was covering up for his mother. If he claimed that to the officers then his whole fantasy would come apart.
shareI suppose once Norman had been captured and was incarcerated for trial , there would be a review of the murders he committed -- whatever psychological support might be provided for the "Mother" personality -- NORMAN is who has to be punished -- and his defense attorney might add an element of "self defense" or "mitigating circumstances" to the Arbogast murder
After all, Arbogast had been asked to leave the property by Norman, had returned, had entered the house without invitation, and was making his way up to the "private sleeping quarters" of an elderly woman, and at night(which adds penalties in a burglary case, I believe).
In a trial where Norman's heading for jail, PERHAPS Arbogast's actions might lessen the penalty for his murder to "self defense" in some weird way.
But as Norman will very likely end up committed to an institution...I don't see an affect.
Something else that Norman would have in his favor would be that he lived in a small town where everyone knew him, and Sheriff also knew him and was friendly with him. It's possible the sheriff would just take Norman at his word, and not do a very thorough investigation. He wouldn't see a need to check the fruit cellar, or ask questions like "Why did Arbogast enter the house in the first place?" or "Who repeatedly stabs an intruder, especially after they fall down the stairs?".
shareYeah that's why I think he could get away with it. Now the big city where no cop knows him would probably do a full investigation and search his whole house, yeah I think he'd be fucked.
shareOf some relevance here:
I've seen Psycho various times in theaters(revival houses) and at colleges on the big screen; but a lot of times, I've seen Psycho on TV...sometimes all the way through, sometimes just some of it while channel surfing or on my way somewhere before leaving.
One time, I was preparing to leave my home with another guy -- a fairly tough guy who got into fights and who later become a prison correctional officer. But Psycho was on and the Arbogast murder scene was coming up so I said, "Hey, wait a minute...I love this scene. Let's watch it. It used to be scary, I doubt you will find it so but its nostalgic..."
The tough friend dutifully stood still and watched Arbogast head up the hill, enter the house, go up the stairs and get killed.
On the fade out(Arbogast's scream), my tough friend said:
"Served the BLANK right. I would've killed him, too. He was a BLANK trespasser!"
and then he said, "Let's go."
So I turned off the TV and we did.
LOL! In some ways it is a good thing for Norman Arbogast did come and he was able to kill him since he would've been in more trouble if Arbogast had gone to the local sheriff and heard the story about how his mom was dead. Even though Norman would've vehemently insisted that he said no such thing as his mom being alive, it might've at least put a bit of suspicion on Norman that the Sheriff might actually try to search for the corpse of his mom in the house.
share