LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Insanity Defense: Juries
built 263 days ago
The insanity defense is available in most jurisdictions that respect human rights and have a rule of law, though the extent to which it can be applied may differ widely between jurisdictions. One example is in cases involving the battered-woman syndrome. Where self-defense is not applicable, a defendant may try to use the insanity defense, although this is almost never successful in the United States. An alternative is the use of provocation as a defense. The battered woman syndrome can be entered as a mitigating factor in United States jurisdictions.
Source:
The insanity defense didn't help David Berkowitz, New York's "Son of Sam" murderer who claimed to receive his killing orders from a neighbor's dog. A Pennsylvania jury found millionaire John DuPont guilty but mentally ill last year in the murder of a wrestling coach. Lawyers for Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski argued that he was insane, but Kaczynski himself resisted such a defense and pleaded guilty. Jeffrey Dahmer dismembered and ate his victims, but his jury failed to deem him insane.
Source:
When invoking insanity as a defense, a defendant is required to notify the prosecution. In some states, sanity is determined by the judge or jury in a separate proceeding following the determination of guilt or innocence at trial. In other states, the defense is either accepted or rejected in the verdict of the judge or jury. Even if evidence of insanity does not win a verdict of not guilty, the sentencing court may consider it as a mitigating factor.
Source:
One novel use of the insanity defense occurred in the case of Lee Boyd Malvo, who plead not guilty by reason of insanity in the autumn 2003 Beltway sniper shootings. Many legal experts believe [citationneeded] that the purpose of raising the defense was not to gain an acquittal but to allow the defense to introduce otherwise inadmissible evidence about Malvo's upbringing, his relationship with John Allen Muhammad, and his mental state. This evidence was intended to gain the jury's sympathy so that they would not invoke the death penalty, and was successful at doing so.
Source:
In any case, the fact that some defendant's may fake insanity to win acquittal should not justify abolishing the insanity defense. In fact, a survey of the case law reveals only a handful of cases in which a defendant tricked a court or jury into a NGRI acquittal.
Source:
"There is always a public outcry when a jury finds a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity," said American University law professor Rita J. Simon, author of The Jury and the Defense of Insanity. "Most people have problems with it because a person is dead."
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Juries