Using the M'Naghten standard, please pick one case example and decide whether the jury should find the person sane or not sane at the time of the offense. Defend your answer by citing examples from the Mental State Forensic Report, case law and black letter law from our course material.

For your second discussion board post, please choose a different case example and respond to a classmate's answer stating whether you agree or disagree and why.

Insane or Not Insane?

That is the Question


 

1. Case #1

In 1999, Andrew pushed a young woman into the path of an approaching train in New York. He is a man with a history of schizophrenia and claimed to hear voices. He believed someone had dissected his brain, that his genitalia had enlarged from consuming contaminated food, and someone named Larry stole his feces and ate them with a knife and fork. In the prosecutor's argument, they accused Andrew of premeditatedly killing the woman because she closely resembled Stephanie H., a stripper who on previous occasions sexually frustrated him. They claimed that Andrew was using schizophrenia as a false account of his actions. Andrew was committed to the hospital for a total of 13 times in the course of 1997 and 1998. Each one of his commitments was done voluntarily, and he once even requested for permanent hospitalization. However, each time he was turned away and was put in the waiting list for hospitalization, despite his efforts to commit himself. The defense team claimed that Andrew was Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. As the trier of fact, would you find that Andrew was insane at the time of the offense?

2. Case #2

In 1981, John developed an obsession with the movie Taxi Driver, in which Jodie Foster stars as a child prostitute and Robert Deniro plays Travis Bickle, who plots to assassinate the presidential candidate in the film. He personally watched the movie 15 times consecutively and grew infatuated with Jodie Foster. Hinckley then began to stalk the actress by relocating to New Haven, Connecticut, near Yale University where she was enrolled. He signed for a Yale writing class, slipped her poems and messages through her door and calling her persistently. As he grew more desperate in his attempts, he even considered taking his own life in front of her to gain her attention. Eventually he decided to attempt an assassination on President Ronald Reagan. As the president left the Hilton Hotel, he shot six times at Reagan, wounding a few other people in the process. One of the bullets hit the president in the chest, but he survived the attempt. John's defense team pled for insanity defense. As the trier of fact, would you find that John was insane at the time of the offense?

3. Case #3

Lorena and John were a young couple from Virginia. John had a history of mentally and sexually abusing Lorena throughout their marriage. In 1993, John arrived home highly inebriated and raped Lorena. After the incident, Lorena stepped into the kitchen for a drink of water and saw a carving knife on the counter. This evoked memories of the years of domestic abuse that had been taking place. Lorena then walked back into the bedroom where John was sleeping and "cut off almost half of his penis" with the knife. With the severed penis in hand, Lorena left the apartment, drove to a field and threw it away. She then made the call to 911. A team then searched for the genitalia and was able to recover it. John was taken to the hospital and his penis was surgically reattached. During the trial,

Lorena revealed the details of their marriage and the domestic abuse. Her defense claimed that she was suffering from clinical depression from it, which caused her to wound her husband. As the trier of fact, would you find that Lorena was insane at the time of the offense?

4. Case #4

Since Jeffrey was a child, he displayed symptoms of withdrawal and avoidance of any social interactions. He would collect dead animals, then dissect, dissolve, or mutilate them in various ways. He committed his first murder in 1978. He bludgeoned a hitchhiker to death because "the guy wanted to leave and I didn't want him to." Later that same year, he picked up a gentleman at a gay bar and killed him out of impulse, claiming no memory of the event later in trial. In 1988, he was arrested for giving drugs and sexual fondling a 13-year-old boy. As a registered sex offender, Jeffrey would then proceed to commit 15 more murders, storing the corpses in vats. He kept trophies of his victims and saved certain body parts of his victims for later consumption. Later in 1991, a female would-be victim overpowered Jeffrey, ran through the streets and waved for the police car. At trial, Jeffrey pled not guilty by reason of insanity. As the trier of fact, would you find that Jeffrey was insane at the time of the offense?

5. Case #5

Ed was a grave robber who was fascinated with his deceased mother and the intimacy of female body parts. He would skin corpses and wear them or use them as decorative items. He made a suit of human skin, a belt of made of female nipples, and kept a refrigerator filled with human organs. In 1957, he was arrested and tried for the murder of Bernice. He confessed to killing at least two others but was not charged due to cost issues (according to the judge in his case). Ed pled not guilty by reason of insanity. As the trier of fact, would you find that Ed was insane at the time of the offense?