Insanity all cases Flashcards
M’Naghten Case
Guy tries to assassinate the prime minister because he thinks tories are zombies
“ everyman is presumed to be sane”
“at the time of committing the act”
“Labouring under… “
“a defect of reason”
“from disease of the mind”
“ as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or if he did…. that he did not know what he was doing was wrong” (didn’t know what tf he was doing at all eg blacked out or did know what he was doing but had no idea it was wrong
Daniel’s 3 D’s -Insanity requires proof of a defect of reason, disease of the mind and D must not know the nature & quality of their act OR that is was wrong
R V Clarke
- Reason must be “defective”
(completely gone, here is a parallel unlike diminished resp,s2 HA 1957,: substantial impairment reason, understand control it is not ‘substantial’(appreciably beyond the trivial, R v golds) IT IS GONEEEEE THEY CANNOT REASON - not merely unused.
R v Burgees
Sleepwalker hits his girl with a bottle and video recorder and then tried to strangle her: tries to plead sane automatism (I had no control over my actions,they were involuntary, plea)
Defence used : insane automatism
-Insanity caused by an internal factor and be prone to reoccur but can be transient (temporary part of an ongoing issue)
R v Kemp (1957)
- Motiveless attack on wife as a result of a black out because of arteriosclerosis
ANY condition that affects the mind can be a disease of the mind and not solely mental illness
R v Hennessy (1989)
- Henessy goes inside, his insulin did not go inside, his condition was inside, he drove a car without consent??
- Lack of insulin meant internal diabetes was cause of defect of reason - INSANE (heavy on the in in insane lolll)
R v Quick (1973)
- Quick was a nurse guilty of ABH on a paraplegic because his dumb ahh didn’t eat after taking insulin
- Lack of food after insulin meant external insulin was the cause of defect of reason
external = sane automatism
R v Windle (1952)
Saying “they’ll hang me for this” showed he knew his actions were legally wrong
if you know you were acting legally wrong then you can’t plead insanity and you cant be not guilty by reason of insanity (special verdict)
