The Insanity Defense

The Insanity Defense

I decided to write this blog as people believe that it’s easy to “get off” by claiming you’re insane. It's an informative piece about the insanity defense with sprinkles of my own case mixed in. It should enlighten a few on how hard it is to prove to be legally insane.

In 2023, the four charges of first-degree murder against me were dismissed due to me being legally insane at the time of the alleged crime. I call it an accident in this blog because that’s what it truly was, a car accident. It wasn’t an “on purpose” therefore, it was an accident.

“The insanity defense is primarily used in criminal prosecutions. It is based on the assumption that at the time of the crime, the defendant was suffering from severe mental illness and therefore, was incapable of appreciating the nature of the crime and differentiating right from wrong behavior, hence making them not legally accountable for crime. Just suffering from a mental disorder is not sufficient to prove insanity.”

An example of just having a mental disorder but not being legally insane: “James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58 when he opened fire during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, a Batman movie, in the Denver suburb of Aurora on July 20, 2012. Twelve other people were injured in the scramble to escape.

Holmes was mentally ill at the time of the killings—diagnosed with a severe form of schizophrenia. Despite this illness, Holmes knew his elaborately planned ambush was illegal and morally wrong, but he could still form criminal intent, which meant under state law he was sane. His planning, choice of time, location, weaponry, and execution were meticulously placed in motion. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus 3,318 years without parole.”

An insanity defense means that a defendant is not guilty of the crime because they didn’t have the mental capacity required to commit a crime.

“With some offenses, a person is only not guilty of a crime if he or she actually did NOT intend to commit the crime. If a driver accidentally hits someone with their car, they are not guilty of vehicular homicide. However, if the driver had the intention to harm the person, the action is the same, but the intention is different. Mental illness can alter a person's perception of reality so that he or she does not realize the criminal nature of his or her actions or has no choice but to commit the crime. When this is the case, certain courts believe the person lacks this element of intention necessary for criminal guilt.”

The definition of insanity also varies among different jurisdictions as well as statutes and other legal definitions. Some states like Idaho, Montana, Kansas and Utah do not even have the insanity defense.

To prove legal insanity, most jurisdictions require:

1. A professional assessment

In my case I had two experts, one for the defense and one for the prosecution who provided the assessments. They had notes from other mental health providers who interacted with me in the past, videos, witness statements etc.

It is rare that the state’s expert that they paid for, sides with the defendant’s expert in favor of the defendant. In my case, this is what happened.

Their psychiatric expert from a major city sided with my psychiatric expert from a different major city (who could have easily deemed me sane as it’s rare to be deemed legally insane as well).

There were comments made that I “faked it” or that I “manipulated them.” Not many people are THAT manipulative that they can convince two experts with decades of experience that they were legally insane on THAT day: NOT the present day.

That means the days I was accessed didn’t matter ONLY the day of the accident. It’s impossible to manipulate reports, videos and statements, from jail.

Furthermore, I was not the only one or only thing interviewed or reported to the experts.

2. Proof that you were not capable of distinguishing between right and wrong

3. Proof this mindset happened during the time of the offense

It’s not as simple as “She has a mental illness let her go free.”

Just having a mental illness itself isn’t enough to meet the legal standards for the insanity defense. Just because I have bipolar disorder doesn’t prevent me from being punished from alleged crimes.

Despite what the television shows say, this defense is rarely used, and the success rate is even lower.

In fact, the insanity defense is used in only 1 percent of all criminal felony proceedings, and its success rate is only .25 percent of that 1 percent.

(Not to mention I was a poor, black woman put up against an entire city of white conservatists, and a huge family support on the prosecution side.)

Each year only around 30 defendants succeed with the insanity defense.

30!

Do you realize how many defendants there are as a whole?!

30 is literally nobody. Yet, I was 1 of those 30!

I was NOT found “not guilty” though.

My charges were dismissed because I was deemed not guilty by reason of insanity by two psychiatric experts.

The law demands that if the defense can prove from a preponderance of evidence that defendant was legally insane at the time of the alleged crime then the defendant is not legally responsible.

There was no reason to go through a trial.

Even if I had been committed to a mental health facility, I would have been let out quickly as I was deemed sane shortly after the accident (with the proper medications).

I was only legally insane at the time of the accident.

Having a trial would have been a waste of time and money for all parties involved.

Not to mention heart-wrenching to put both families through that.

Especially the families of the deceased.

Rehashing those memories just to get the same outcome was not worth it.

People who are found “not guilty by reason of insanity” that are committed to mental health facilities are usually not sentenced to a specific amount of time.

It is not meant to be a punishment since the defendant was found not guilty. The defendant, however, needed to be sent to the facility for further help to regain the ability to not want to harm themselves or others.

Once a person is deemed safe for society they are supposed to be released.

Of course this varies from state to state as well.

Again, it is not easy to prove insanity in a court of law.

I did not “win” anything.

No one won.

I regained my freedom due to the truth setting me free. Nothing more, nothing less.

As I always say, instead of speaking negatively of me, just be glad you’re not me.

~Natasha BYTS

Sources used in quotations: LawInfo.com, law.cornell.edu, psychologytoday.com/lawdisorder