Here are some examples of situations in which the legal defense of insanity could help a defendant get a verdict of not guilty: If you can convince the jury at your California criminal jury trial that you are not guilty by reason of insanity, then you will be committed to a state mental hospital instead of being sent to prison. For the insanity defense to work, you will then need to prove that it is more likely than not that you were legally insane when you committed your crime. You can plead not guilty by reason of insanity at your arraignment hearing. This definition of legal insanity is known as the “ McNaghten (sometimes spelled M’Naghten or McNaughten) rule.” 3
A Cleveland State Law Review found that only 15% of insanity defenses were successful in Ohio. According to the New York Times, of the nearly 6,000 murder cases that happened in New York between 20, a verdict of not guilty by reasons of mental health was handed to only seven defendants. There is no clear data on the success of the insanity defense as well. After all, who can do all those crazy things but a crazy person? Insanity defense comes into play the most in cases of the most bizarre. In the Saint Louis University Public Law Review, James Hooper wrote that “less than half of 1 percent of trials actually lead to insanity of exculpation.” The truth is, it’s quite rare and somewhat difficult to pull off. The Insanity Defense Is RareĪ lot of people believe that the insanity defense is a common plea. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It took the jury less than three hours to decide that Routh was indeed guilty. In 2006, a Texas jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity. Andrea Yates drowned her five children after suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Routh’s attorney’s had precedent, however. In Texas, you can be declared insane but if you knew at the time you committed a crime that it was wrong, you’re going to jail. To prove he truly was “insane” at the time of killing, Routh’s attorney’s had to successfully argue that he was legally insane and not suffering from mental illness. He did end up getting arrested and when a ranger asked him “You know what you did today is wrong, right?” The prosecutors, however, argued that Routh evaded capture after killing Kyle and Littlefield – an action that showed he knew what he did was wrong. They told of how he was hospitalized four times in mental institutions seven months prior to the killings, and even include a stint less than a week before the shootings. Routh’s defense team painted a dark picture on their client’s struggle with mental issues after he served with the Marines. The insanity defense was his shot at getting out of jail. On February 2, 2013, he shot dead Chris Kyle, reputed to be the deadliest sniper in America, and Chad Littlefield, at a gun range in Texas. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Eddie Ray Routh was a veteran of the Iraq war.