Renshaw was charged with murder in the first degree. He voluntarily confessed to the following crime. At trial, he claimed that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. While Renshaw and his wife were on their honeymoon in Canada, he was deported to Washington state as a result of his involvement in a fight. He waited in a motel room for his wife to return. When she arrived two days later, he sensed she was different and thought that she had been unfaithful. Renshaw never mentioned his suspicions to her. He beat her unconscious in the motel room, then went to a store, stole a knife, and returned to fatally stab her 24 times. He left to drive to a farm where he had worked and borrowed an ax. After returning to the room, he used the ax to decapitate his wife.

Renshaw concealed his actions by wrapping the body in a blanket, putting the head in a pillowcase and placing both in the car. Using a bucket and sponge borrowed from a gas station, he cleaned the room of blood and fingerprints. The body parts were hidden in thick brush in a remote area 25 miles from the motel. Renshaw then drove about 200 miles from the scene of the crime where he disposed of his wife's car in a river. He testified that he followed the Muscovite religious faith, and that it would be improper for a Muscovite not to kill his wife if she committed adultery. Renshaw also had a history of mental problems, for which he had been hospitalized in the past. Will Renshaw succeed with his insanity defense?