insanity defense might be applied in an actual case

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury

Description:

 The purpose of this discussion is for you to gain a better understanding of how the insanity defense might be

applied in an actual case

 For the final discussion you will become a member of a jury and decide whether the defendant in the case

described below should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. The case facts are based on an actual case, and

I will tell you the results of the actual case once the discussion ends

 Assume the case is taking place in a state that has adopted the “irresistible impulse” insanity test. Use this week’s

course material to make sure you understand the irresistible impulse test

 Read the facts of the case over a couple of times before beginning your initial response and note which facts might

relate to the irresistible impulse test

 As a member of the jury, in this case discuss whether you would find the person not guilty by reason of insanity

and justify your decision. You should demonstrate your understanding of the “irresistible impulse” insanity test by

applying the irresistible impulse test to the facts of the case in your initial response. Do not make your decision

based on emotions, as the judge has instructed the jury that it must apply the law (the insanity defense) to the

facts

Facts of the Case:

Defendant was born in the Midwest into a fundamentalist family. He was always painfully shy and suffered from low

self-esteem. As a child, he was molested by a neighbor. First, his father left the home. Then, after a bitter divorce, his

mother took his brother, and left Defendant with his father. His parents weren’t speaking and Defendant didn’t even

know how to contact his mother and brother. Defendant’s history of abandonment left him with feelings of loss and

rejection.

When young, Defendant impaled the heads of animals he killed on stakes in his yard. He collected dead animals and

had necrophiliac desires. Defendant’s stepmother said, "When he was young, he liked to use acid to scrape the meat

off dead animals." She recalled during the late 1980s, an odor emanated from the basement and garage prompting

Defendant's father, a chemist, to investigate. He found "bones and the residue in the containers." Defendant told him

he stripped flesh from an animal he found.

As a teen, Defendant had fantasies of killing and mutilating men. After graduating from high school at age 17, he was

left alone at home, without money or food, and a broken refrigerator. It is believed by some that this experience,

abandonment, and mental illness gave him the justification he needed to commit crimes. However, his own history

shows that he had serious problems long before this event.

Defendant committed his first murder at age 18. He killed a young hitchhiker he invited to his house, where he killed

him with a barbell, then smashed his bones with a hammer because he "didn't want him to leave." He would not kill

again for another nine years. He did not do well in college. Encouraged by his father, he joined the military where he

became an army medic. He was discharged for drunkenness. Defendant then lived with his grandmother for six

years. Eventually, he got a factory job and also discovered gay bars, which is where he picked up his second victim.

Defendant had not yet been arrested for the first two crimes when he was arrested for sexually fondling a 13-year-old

boy. He served 10 months incarcerated and was required to register as a sex offender. After committing the sexual

molestation crime, Defendant killed another 15 young men, and by the end he was claiming one victim a week. His

fantasy was for a compliant sexual partner and necrophilia. Most of Defendant’s all male victims were minorities,

usually African Americans.

In gay bars, he offered young homosexual and bisexual males money to pose for photos or to watch videos and drink

beer at his place. He drugged victims into a deep sleep with spiked drinks before strangling or stabbing them to

death, having anal sex with the cadaver, and then dismembering them with a hacksaw. Their heads and genitalia

were kept as trophies. Biceps and other muscles were frozen for future consumption. Defendant said human flesh

"tasted like beef." The remainder was boiled with chemicals and acids before being washed down the drains. He

conducted lobotomies on some victims and most died instantly. However, he poured acid into a hole drilled in one

victim's skull, and the victim lived and functioned in a zombie state for several days, according to the Defendant.

One morning, three police officers were routed to a 911 call from a rundown city suburb where two witnesses found

an incoherent Asian boy running around naked and bleeding. Even though he couldn't speak English, it was obvious

that he was frightened of the white man following him out into the street trying to get him to return to the apartment.

Defendant told police the boy was his 19-year-old lover, and they had a lover’s quarrel. After police escorted the boy

to Defendant’s apartment, Defendant strangled the boy, abused his body before dismembering it, and kept some

parts to eat and his skull as a trophy. The thirteenth of Defendant's 17 victims was the older brother of the boy he was

convicted of molesting.

Finally, the day came when two cops were driving through Defendant's neighborhood when they saw a dazed black

man with a single handcuff on his wrist. The man told them about watching a video with a "weird dude," and being

drugged, handcuffed, and threatened with a knife. He had fought back and escaped from the apartment. The cops

had him take them to the apartment.

Defendant answered the door and explained that he lost his job at a chocolate factory, got drunk, and lost his temper.

When he went to get the handcuff key from his bedroom, a cop followed him in. The stench of death and rotting flesh

was overwhelming. He spotted Polaroid photos of dismembered bodies and skulls in a refrigerator. He went into the

kitchen and saw the refrigerator covered with pictures of mutilated men. He screamed when he opened the door. A

human head sat on a refrigerator shelf.

Defendant fought back hard as they handcuffed him. Three more heads and human meat were in the freezer. Hands

from several victims and a penis were in a stockpot in a closet. Two boiled skulls painted grey were on a bedroom

closet shelf. Male genitalia were also found preserved in formaldehyde. A bottle of chloroform was found which had

been used to drug the victims. There were hundreds of photos of victims before, during the murders, and after death.

There was an altar of candles and human skulls in Defendant’s closet. He planned to create a shrine using skulls,

human trophies, and a statue of a griffin he owned to honor evil. He said it would give him "special powers and

energies to help him socially and financially."

Defendant told the detective during questioning:

"I have to question whether there is an evil force in the world and whether or not I have been influenced by it.

Although I am not sure if there is a God or if there is a Devil, I know that as of late I've been doing a lot of thinking

about both."

Defendant admitted to his crimes. He made no excuses and blamed nobody but himself. Defendant was a well-

spoken and seemingly an intelligent man.