What is an Insanity Plea?

The insanity defense is a popular term thrown around in society. Whether it be on television or in the court of law, it has become quite popular. But, there are a lot of misconceptions about it. Many people believe that being diagnosed with a mental illness could qualify you for an insanity plea. This is not necessarily the case. In fact, the individual does not even have to have a diagnosable mental illness. Not to say that the individual might not suffer from a mental illness, but it is not a valid enough excuse on its own to deem someone legally insane. In order to be deemed legally insane, you must be able to prove that at the time of the offense was committed, that you did not know the difference between right and wrong due to some sort of mental deficiency. This is usually hard to prove, resulting in the insanity plea not being successful very often.

While difficult to substantiate, there have been lawyers who successfully prove that their client did not understand how what they were doing was wrong at the time it occurred. In 2014, Cody Metzker—Madsen was found not guilty by reason of insanity by an Iowa judge. In August of 2013, Metzker-Madsen assaulted his five year old foster brother, Dominic, then drowned him. According to the defendant, he believed that Dominic was a goblin commander that must be killed. During the attack, he did not see Dominic, he saw an evil goblin. When evaluated by a forensic psychologist, Metzker-Madsen was reportedly unable to fully grasp the consequences of his actions. He even gave a detailed description of his “battle against the goblin”, indicating that he thoroughly believed that is what happened. These interviews were explained by the psychologist in his defense during the trial. Many also testified that he had a long history of mental deficiency. This included behavioral issues, epilepsy, attention issues, lying and believing in fantasy creatures with possible hallucinations. This conveyed the message that he was unable to realize what he was doing at the time was wrong, thus his ability to successfully use the insanity defense. Instead of jail he was committed Iowa Medical and Classification Center to be evaluated and treated for an indefinite amount of time. This is an excellent example of someone who did not have a diagnosed mental illness at the time, but was still able to use the insanity defense. Be that as it may, there have still been cases of someone using a mental illness to prove their inability to understand right and wrong. Andrea Yates’ defense team famously did this in 2001. Andrea Yates was diagnosed with schizophrenia, postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis after the birth of her fifth child. On June 20th, 2001, Yates drowned all five of her children in the bathtub shortly after her husband left for work, and one hour before her mother was supposed to arrive to supervise her. Yates’ husband, Rusty, was advised by Andrea’s physician to never leave her alone with the children. However, Rusty thought it would be okay to leave her alone for a period of time in the morning to make her feel more independent. Obviously he was proved wrong. After drowning all of her children and laying them in her bed, she called for the police but did not give a reason why to dispatchers. She also called her husband telling him to come home, when he asked if anyone was hurt, Andrea said, “yes. All of the children.” When she murdered her children, Andrea whole heartedly believed that she was saving them from burning in hell. She claimed that because she was evil, her kids were not righteous. Therefore, she had to kill them in order to protect them. Originally, Yates was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison after her 2002 trial. However, this verdict was thrown out due to a false witness testimony given by one of the psychiatrists. At her second trial in 2006, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Her mental illness was determined to have hindered her ability to differentiate the differences between right and wrong at the time of the murders. But, they were not the reason she was deemed insane. They were simply used to prove her inability to grasp the consequences of her actions.

While there have been a few cases where the insanity plea worked, there have been far more that did not. In October of 2012, Yoselyn Ortega stabbed two young children that were in her care and then herself. At trial, her lawyers tried to pursue an insanity plea. Claiming that Ortega did not understand what she was doing when she stabbed the children, just two and six years old. However, the prosecution argued that this was not the case, Ortega was lucid enough at the time of the murders to grasp what she was doing. Ultimately, the prosecution was successful. Ortega was found guilty of first and second degree murder, earning her a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

Why do peoples the insanity defense? Well, many people believe that the insanity defense will prevent you from going to prison. To someone facing serious jail time, this sounds great. While it may be true, they will still be sentenced to a state psychiatric facility if found guilty. In simple terms, these places are atrocious. They are overfunded and lack proper caring staff. Time served in one of these places is arguably worse than time in a prison.