Jurors fear danger
in ruling for insanity
BOSTON (AP) — If Kenneth Seguin w.isn't mad. what other ex
planet ion could there In?7
This computer executive — home in the suburbs, no apparent
problems — suddenly killed his wife and two children But a jury
refused to find him innocent In reason of insanity, and convicted
him of second-degree murder
The presiding puige. Robert Barton, was unsurprised I've sat on
four highly publit i/ed cases over the sears where the defense in front
of n jury was not guilty by reason of insanity, and never has one of
them prevailed,’' he said
Jurors everywhere, fearful of rising crime and worried that dan
gerous criminals will go free, are rehu taut to find defendants not
guilts t>et a use of insanity — even when the most bizarre i rimes have
been committed, experts sus
' f inding someone not guilts Im-cause of their mental state is being
seen as akin to getting off si ot free." said A bite Smith deputy direi
tor of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard t nisersits law
Si hool. "IPs tied directly to the tear of i rime
Some say a bac klash against leniency intensified w hen |ohn
Him kies was acquitted after pleading insanity in the I‘MU shooting
ol President Reagan.
A studs of 49 counties in eight states t alifornia. Georgia. Mon
tana, Ness Jersey. New ^ ork. Ohio. Washington and Wist onsin
showed that between 197b and 19H7. 1 pen ent of the pleas in felons
cases were insanity defenses, a< cording to the Amerit an Academs of
Psychiatry and the Law.
Of those nearly 9.000 cases. 2b percent of the defendants who
entered such pleas were acquitted, and only 7 percent of those ai
quittals were by a jury. the studs found
"IPs a defense of desperation, said William Molfitt, an attorney
in Alexandria, Va . known lor his use of the insanits defense It s
not the defense of first resort . even if son have a person who VOU
really think is out of tlreir mind
The insanity defense dates to lH4:t in l.ngland. when Daniel
M'Nughten was accused of fatally shooting la I ward Drummond the
private sri rotary to Prime Minister Robert Pool.
M Naghten testified that lie believed Peel was the head of a con
spiracy to kill him, and that this delusion prompted him to shoot
Drummond. M'Naghten pleaded not guilty hs reason of insanity,
and. in an unpopular verdict, was at quitted.
The so-called M'Naghten rule, or variations on it, is still the legal
definition of insanity in mans i ourts It s.n s a defendant is legally
insane if. because of a severe mental disease or defect, he ' .moot
appreciate the consequent os of his at ts or tell right from sv rung
But after Hint kies was fount! not guilts hs reason of insanits in the
assassination attempt on Reagan, Congress responded m 19H I Iw
passing the insanity Defense Reform Act. ss hit h placed the burden
of prosing insanity on the defense rather than making tin* pros
edition prove sanity
It also hit lined expert witnesses, such as psst hialrists. from offer
mg conclusions about the sanity or insanity of the defendant, a I
loss im; them to only dest ribe a t oudition and let jurors det ide
riu at I applied only to federal courts, but mans states iollowed
suit .ind ii(lo|)ti*il similar measures
Some states created review boards. milt li like parole boards, lhal
lake custody of people committed to institutions otter a successful
111snnit\ plea The boards oversee treatment provided and i an set
conditions that must be met it a person is to lx- released
Sou . attorney s say. the insanity defense is less ettei tive than ever
l hes i ite tlie Wis* onsin i ase of Jeffrey Dahtner, who was ronvii led
ol killing and dismembering la young men and boys, and oven eat
ing their bods ports tint found sane b\ a jurs
It there ever was a mentally ill person on the planet, Dalum-r had
to tie it," Muffitt said
Diane Wiley, president of the National Jurv Project in Minneapo
lis, said jurors in sui It < ases must sort out the often confih ting tes
timony of medical experts, while worrying about the consequences
of their verdii t
"It's not that tties don't think Dahtner is insane thev just don't
w aljt iitili back out on the street. V\;les said
Actually, defendants acqpdted on insanity pleas spend about as
long in mental institutions as they would have epent in prison had
they been convicted, ac.i urdmg to Henry I Steadman, president of
Pole s Research Associates, which i ondm tod the eight state study
on insanity pleas
Steadman found that the median length of < onfinemenl for dm
fendants acquitted h\ reason of insanity in murder i ases was 1.737
days or 4 7 years I he median length of confinement tor defendants
found guilty of murder was 1 .tblti day s, or five years.
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