Andrea Yates Case

The name McNaughton came from the son of A Glasgow wood turner who was deluded that there was conspiracy against him when the catholic priests sent spies to harass him. It is from these encounters that the McNaughton Principle came into being. The rule in based on understanding what is right and wrong. It is a test of the two concepts, i.e. "knowing right and wrong by oneself in the course of their actions" (Asokan, 2007). The idea of uncontrollable impulses was not considered an important item. This rule was the standard test that was used by the jury after listening to a medical report. Thus, there was a presumption of sanity unless the defence proved otherwise. The US and the UK adopted the McNaughton Rule and still use it to handle cases to date in many states (The 'insanity defense' and diminished capacity, 2017).

This was man who had been arrested and convicted several times. He had also been admitted in several mental institutions severally since the age of 17. Despite the ruling against him in 1953to the effect that the defence failed to prove that he didn't know what he was doing, the appellate judge thought otherwise. This served as the beginning of the end to the McNaughton Rule. The judge used existing research to declare that the McNaughton rule was obsolete and misleading. He pointed out that exiting relevant research disproved the assumptions in the rule. The Judge overturned the conviction and put in place a new Rule. This was then called the Durham Rule. The rule points out that an accused person is not responsible criminally if his act of lawlessness was born of mental disease of defect (The 'insanity defense' and diminished capacity, 2017)

The Insanity Defence Act at federal courts new requires the defence to show clearly that they were not in charge of their faculties at the point of committing the unlawful act. This approach is viewed as retrogressive and a return to the old standard. It also came with the Insanity Defence Reform Act that was enacted in 1984. It has guidelines for sentencing defendants with a history of mental illness (The 'insanity defense' and diminished capacity, 2017).

Compare and Contrast these tests? Examine this in light of John Hinckley what happened here. Is one test "better" than the other? Why? What new laws came into being, after Hinckley?

John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington D.C Hotel in 1981. This drew a lot of attention as expected and notoriety perception towards John Hinckley. The villain was arrested at the scene of crime. He later claimed that he acted out of love for the then American president. According to the New York Times he stated that he was in love with Forster like Romeo and Juliet. He was later tried. He was acquitted because he was found to be insane. He was sent to a psychiatry facility for help (Biography.com Editors, 2017).

The McNaughton Rule was adopted in the US and UK and was applied to judge the standard of right and wrong for many years. In fact, the rule is used as a standard of insanity test in nearly half of the states in the USA. The Durham Rule on the other hand made use of scientific research to handle cases of insanity in court. It was a departure for legal formalisms of the McNaughton Rule. Scientific explanation was the basis for judgement. Controversies emerged and threw the Durham Rule into the back banner. The basis of the Durham Rule was that punishment is meant to deter criminal tendencies. If one cannot differentiate between right and wrong, applying the law rigidly as it is serves no purpose (Francone, 2016).

Which test does New York State use? Is this a successful defense - why or why not? Explain.

New York applies Model Penal Code Rule. The rule places the burden of proof on the defendant (The Insanity Defense Among the States, 2017). The rule gives the legislative authorities the freedom to choose between wrongfulness and criminality language options. Thus, the legislative bodies have the liberty to use more legalistic view of right and wrong. They may also apply a different standard in the form of morally inspired understanding of right and wrong. There are complications that arise in the evaluation of right and wrong. Individuals who, regardless of knowing that they would be condemned by society, believe that it would be the reverse, if the same society was made aware of what they "knew" are classic problematic scenarios (Francone, 2016).

What do you think of the assertion of that defence in the Yates case?

Yates had documented mental illness history. She had been diagnosed with pastpartum depression a few months after she gave birth to her youngest child. The prosecution refuted her claim to insanity. Diertz was enlisted to front the argument. She was, curiously, a fan of "Law and Order". Diertz claimed that the suspect had simply applied what she had watched another woman do in the legal TV drama series. In the TV show, a woman drowned her children in a bathtub and claimed post partum illness in her defence (Cassel, 2006).

Was she to blame for what happened?

Ms Yates was convicted for murder. The jury in the first trial found her calling the police after murdering her children to be an act of being in full control of her faculties. In the second trial however, it was argued that since she was psychotic, she could not differentiate between right and wrong (Nau, McNiel, & Binder, 2012).

What background may have contributed to Yates' actions?

The prosecution argued that Yates intentionally killed her children because they had overwhelmed her. He further argued that it is the TV series that inspired her to kill her children and blame it on postpartum illness (Cassel, 2006).

What may happen to Andrea Yates in the future?

Yates receives few visitors in the facility where she is kept. She stands little chance of leaving the confinement unless she demonstrates significant recovery or that the law gives her such reprieve. She spends her time walking around the grounds of the facility and viewing videos of her children (Dunham, 2016).

Research and find a recent case where the insanity defence was asserted and discuss why it was or was not successful. Research that state's test. Is it McNaughton? Provide the defendant's name and what state the crime occurred. Be original - be sure to provide sufficient background - one or two sentences will not be sufficient - describe the criminal behaviour and application of the defence - discuss why it was or was not a success and the end result.

Hinckley became obsessed with the Taxi Driver movie in 1981. In this movie, Jodie Forster features as a child prostitute. Robert Deniro is Travis Buckle. He plays the role of plotting to assassinate the presidential candidate featured in the movie. Hinckley watched the movie many times and became obsessed and overly drawn to the character. Hinckley set out to find the actress by stalking her. He relocated to New Haven in Connecticut. He enrolled for a writing class at Yale where the actress also had her studies. He called her persistently and tried to push messages under her door. He threatened to commit suicide before her just to draw her attention. In the end, he decided to try and assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He shot several times at the president as he was leaving his hotel in Washington DC. Several people were injured in the incident. The defence team for Hinckley pled insanity in their defence. They got it. Hinckley was freed on all 13 charges. Owing to the publicity in the case, the public considered the defence based on insanity as a legal loophole. They viewed it s a case of a clearly guilty party evading punishment (Yoong, 2012).

Include a thought provoking question for discussion. Do not ask an opinion question but a fact-based question. Then attempt to provide a response to that question.

Most states in the US were forced to adopt reforms in legislation with regard to the application of the Insanity Rule after the ruling in Hinckley Jnr's favour (Yoong, 2012). The question that begs is: Should laws be reworded or changed just because of an incident that involved a prominent personality or high profile politician?

The verdict in Hinckley's case parked off widespread public outcry. They believed that the insanity defence was a legal loophole that would allow criminals to get away with their heinous acts. There were calls to either revise or abolish the provision altogether. Over thirty states revised their laws to make it harder to file insanity defence and succeed after criminal action. The Insanity Reform Act was passed by Congress. It raised the stakes for insanity defence in federal courts (WGBH Edu Foundation, 2014).

References

Asokan, T. (2007). Daniel McNaughton (1813-1865). Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 223 - 224.

Biography.com Editors. (2017, April 28). John Hinckley Jr. Biography.com. Retrieved from The Biography.com website: https://www.biography.com/people/john-hinckley-jr-17171774

Cassel, E. (2006, July 28). The Second Andrea Yates Verdict. Retrieved from Counter Punch: http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/07/28/the-second-andrea-yates-verdict/

Dunham, N. (2016, June 20). Andrea Yates, in a Mental Facility, Watches Videos of Her Children -- 15 Years After She Drowned Them. Retrieved from PeopleCrime: http://people.com/crime/andrea-yates-15-years-after-drowning-five-children-in-a-texas-mental-facility/

Francone, E. (2016, July). Insanity defense. Retrieved from Cornell Law School: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/insanity_defense

Nau, M., McNiel, D., & Binder, R. (2012). Postpartum Psychosis and the Courts. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 318 - 325.

The Insanity Defense Among the States. (2017). Retrieved from FindLaw: http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/the-insanity-defense-among-the-states.html

The 'insanity defense' and diminished capacity. (2017, May 26). Retrieved from Cornell Law: https://www.law.cornell.edu/background/insane/insanity.html

WGBH Edu Foundation. (2014). A Case of Insanity. Frontline.

Yoong, G. (2012, April 11). Top 10 Most Notorious Insanity Defense Cases. Retrieved from Listverse: http://listverse.com/2012/04/11/top-10-most-notorious-insanity-defense-cases/