According to the New York Times, [Jared Loughner] may plead not guilty by reason of insanity. How do mental-health experts figure out whether a federal defendant should qualify for the insanity defense?
With difficulty. To prove insanity in court, defense attorneys must demonstrate that their client’s mental illness prevented him from understanding the wrongness of his criminal undertaking at the time of the offense. (This standard is stricter than merely showing the defendant generally cannot not tell right from wrong.) They must also show a clear connection between the defendant’s delusions and the crime he committed. So, for example, a paranoid schizophrenic shoplifter who burgles a melon because he’s hungry probably won’t get off the hook. But a similar shoplifter who steals the melon because he believes the melon will neutralize a chip the CIA planted in his brain probably will.
[…]
In the end, evaluators can only state their opinions and how they arrived at their conclusions. Ultimately it’s up to a judge or jury to determine whether the insanity defense holds water.
John Doe: It’s more comfortable for you to label me as insane.
David Mills: It’s VERY comfortable.
— from the movie Se7ven
has been missing since August, thought to be somewhere in Bulgaria. ZDNet’s only lead? This cryptic message: “Dancho’s alive but he’s in a lot of trouble.”
