UK - Man cleared of wife's death during nightmare

[Gray]

I have found myself waking in the middle of a nightmare where someone had their arm coming through the opening in the door and grabbing at my face and I started biting it only to find myself biting my pillow when I woke up extremely hard.

I can't imagine if someone would have been laying in bed next to me!

 

[Steely Dan]

I have found myself waking in the middle of a nightmare where someone had their arm coming through the opening in the door and grabbing at my face and I started biting it only to find myself biting my pillow when I woke up extremely hard.

I can't imagine if someone would have been laying in bed next to me!

WARNING: SOME MAY NOT FIND THIS FUNNY!!



[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P90wmcRz6gM"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

 

[kgeaux]

WARNING: SOME MAY NOT FIND THIS FUNNY!!



YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.

lol! Poor sheep!

 

[concernedmamaof2]

I think it's a valid plea, but is definitely not the norm. My husband has been through heck and highwater with me and my sleep issues. He's had me jumping over him, hitting him, pulling his hair, screaming, walking, running, etc. So, I think it's entirely possible. I just cannot imagine the guilt this guy is feeling.

It stimies me that it actually went that far though, typically you do wake up at some point though. It's almost like he was suffering from some sort of PTSD and having and episode or something.

 

[Steely Dan]

I think it's a valid plea, but is definitely not the norm. My husband has been through heck and highwater with me and my sleep issues. He's had me jumping over him, hitting him, pulling his hair, screaming, walking, running, etc. So, I think it's entirely possible. I just cannot imagine the guilt this guy is feeling.

It stimies me that it actually went that far though, typically you do wake up at some point though. It's almost like he was suffering from some sort of PTSD and having and episode or something.

If I were your husband I would strap you down on your own bed each night.

 

[kgeaux]

If I were your husband I would strap you down on your own bed each night.

Hmmm.....that could be interesting!

 

[Steely Dan]

Hmmm.....that could be interesting!

I thought I might get a response like that. :crazy: :blushing:

 

[Linda7NJ]

well, I do think it's possible but I certainly wouldn't want to see every tom, dick & harry using it as an excuse

I also don't even think it's necessarily a sleep disorder but could be just a regular ol' nightmare

case in point: one night I was having a nightmare about being attacked & was biting my attacker b/c my hands & feet were not free - in the dream, I was on my back & he was on top of me

in reality, I was dreaming this while on my side facing my husband - he was on his back & I was BITING HIS ARM!

I BIT HIS ARM SO HARD THAT HE HAD MY DENTAL IMPRESSION IN HIS ARM FOR PROBABLY A WEEK AFTER ...

(I'm so not kidding)

that night, HE woke up before I did (after I BIT him - lol) - I was still having the nightmare as he tried to wake me

now, what if I had a gun under the bed & got a hand 'free' (in my nightmare they were confined underneath the attacker somehow) and shot my husband? the what-ifs are scary as hell to think about so yes, I do think it's possible

also, I had a friend whose sleep disorder was so serious that she would do crazy things like go pee & get drinks of water while asleep

I've witnessed my son walk into my bedroom, open my closet door and pee on the floor. Once he walked downstairs, started smacking the floor and crying about a balloon, another time he fell asleep next to me...he sat up, smacked me and said, " tag your it" all while sound asleep.

As a teenager, I've seen my mother get up and walk right out the front door and out in the snow in her bare feet and night gown ...she woke up once she got about 15 feet down the walk way!

I believe it.

 

[txsvicki]

I don't believe this at all. A person wouldn't strangle an intruder, they'd be beating the daylights out of one. I've heard experts say on TV that it takes a lot of effort to strangle a person and it takes about 4-10 minutes.

 

[LaLaw2000]

This was a homicide, IMO. I would never go for the nightmare defense. Pure BS.

 

[octobermoon]

snipped~
The study might eventually enable a test for genuine sleepwalkers. "That's a big breakthrough," says Cartwright. Until recently, defense lawyers used evidence of sleepwalking in childhood or a family history of the activity to back up their claims.

However, Zadra cautions that other factors, like having the motivation to commit a crime, must also be taken into account.

"We should not forget that some sleepwalkers can be criminals," he says.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/blamed-sleepwalking-crimes/story?id=9177323&page=1

------------------------

I am on the fence with this one.

But I do know medications are also a factor. DH was confined to the power chair, had a glass of wine before taking his ambien, the lights were on but nobody was home. We still have tire marks on the wall where he was attempting to get into the bathroom. Son had to jump over the bed to shut the chair off. Next morning asked him if he remembered anything that he had done- not one minute of about a 4 minute scary, funny, DUI in a wheelchair.

 

[kittenish]

Why would they even try and use an insanity defense anyway? What was he supposedly diagnosed with automatism? That's absurd, it's not even a "mental disorder".

I don't know if this has been addressed yet, so I apologize in advance if it has, but automatism can include sleepwalking, or other complex sleep-behaviors. Sleepwalking/somnambulism is classified as a parasomnia, which is a type of psychopathy. Psychologists study it and it's detailed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

There's also REM Sleep Behavior Dx, which you can read about here:
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/rem-sleep-behavior-disorder



ETA: Whether or not this is considered a viable defense is up to the courts, though. "Insanity" is a legal word, not a psychological one, so even if a person has a mental disorder, they're not automatically declared insane by a court of law (fun fact: only ~1% of court cases have a defendant that pleads insanity)