The Insanity Plea By Winslad And Ross: Summary Essay

Procedural History: Prosecutors unhappy with the jury’s decision appealed the case to the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors. The Court than included Palko confession and ordered a new trial, the defendant attorney objected claiming the new trial would be in violation of the Fifth Amendment; of double jeopardy. However,

I began my search for information about the trial by simply googling the name of the case. The first

and eventually got a new judge reassigned to the case. In the end, both the mother and son

related to the second case, being the second case was fought to reverse the outcome of the first

the jury reached a quick verdict because they never believed he could be innocent due

Terminiello was found guilty in the lower court. He then appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, where the conviction was maintained. After receiving the verdict from the Illinois Supreme Court, Terminiello appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What did the trial court do? Who won and lost? What did the trial court say?

In our county, state and federal correctional institutions across the United States, inmates are being imprisoned for awaiting trial, during trial or convicted for some crime. According to the Bureau of Justice (BJS, 2006), Fifty-six percent of inmates in a state prison and forty-five percent of inmates in a federal prison, suffer from or had a past of mental illness. In our American society, individuals who suffer from mental illness seem to be publicly perceived as a nuisance. This can be due to the fact that the media over the years consecutively scrutinized individuals who use the insanity defense in criminal trials. The insanity plea is negatively publicized if the defendant is using it in a high profiled case which their actions resulted in severe harm or death to another individual. In addition, the public perceives the use of this plea as a scapegoat for the defendant to avoid serving punishment in a penal environment. Mentally ill individuals, who are being civilly committed or charged with all levels of crimes, are being heavily prosecuted and sentenced into correctional facilities rather than psychiatric hospitals. This leads me to discuss the lack of treatment for patients in Bridgewater State Hospital (BSH) located in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. This three hundred and fifty bed facility houses Massachusetts most criminally insane. This facility is also use to evaluate patients/inmates for competency to stand trial and for those who get civilly

The insanity plea has been around since 1843 when it was first used in London during the M’Naghten case. The insanity plea made its first appearance in the United States in 1859 after Congressman Daniel Sickles murdered the man who his wife was having an affair with.

In 1992, Roy Brown was convicted of the death of another individual. The victim was fond beaten, strangled, and stabbed at her farmhouse. She was a social worker and was found covered in bite marks and saliva was obtained as DNA evidence. Mr. Brown served 15 years in prison before he was able to prove himself innocent from his cell with the assistance of the Innocence Project. A similar case occurred in 1989, Steven Barnes was convicted of the murder and rape of a 16 year old girl. The victim was found raped and strangled to death on a dirt road. His truck implied him to be a suspect. Even though there was a great amount of statements that supported his alibi, three years after the crime occurred, Mr. Barnes served 20 years in prison before being freed by the Innocence Project.

reason of insanity and was sentenced to twenty-five years in a mental institution. In 1982, new

The insanity defense is a topic that is commonly argued about. It is a topic that is helpful to be informed about. While my research was limited since there are not many cases of the insanity defense , many individuals believe that this defense is only used to allow defendants to get less time in prison and get away with a crime. Although this has been true in some cases, my objective is to bring light into this topic because the insanity defense serves as an appropriate punishment for someone that is mentally ill, the public has a widely misconception of it, and it provides mental help for an “insane” defendant.

When the case finally got to the supreme court they were looking at the case

Statement of Facts “Twelve Angry Men” is a fictional story which tells of story of jurors deliberating over if the teenage son who was accused of murdering his father. The evening of the murder the defendant and his father had an argument. The father hit the son like he did many times in the past. After this encounter the defendant left the apartment. At approximately at midnight witnesses state they saw the stabbing and hearing the defendant yell, “I'll kill you.”

knew it was going to ruin his name. So the court thought he was lying and he got put in