In case anyone is interested (its a lot):
| Model Criminal Jury Instructions Committee |
www.courts.state.co.us
Thank you for this. It clearly spells out how the jury should be instructed in regards to a NGRI plea.
Chapter I (pg. 1281 on PDF file)
The defendant was insane at the time of the commission of the act if:
1. he [she] was
so diseased or defective in mind at the time of the commission of the act as to be
incapable of distinguishing right from wrong with respect to that act; or
2. he [she]
suffered from a condition of mind caused by a mental disease or defect that prevented him [her] from forming a culpable mental state that is an essential element of a crime charged.
But
care should be taken not to confuse mental disease or defect with moral obliquity, mental depravity, or passion growing out of anger, revenge, hatred, or other motives and kindred evil conditions because, when an act is induced by any of these causes, the person is accountable to the law.
In addition, “diseased or defective in mind” does not refer to an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct.
Similarly,
“mental disease or defect” means only those severely abnormal mental conditions that grossly and demonstrably impair a person’s perception or understanding of reality and that are not attributable to the voluntary ingestion of alcohol or any other psychoactive substance. “Mental disease or defect”
does not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct.
The prosecution has the burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not insane at the time of the commission of the 1284 act. In order to meet this burden of proof, the prosecution must disprove, beyond a reasonable doubt, both of the above numbered conditions.
This is an informational instruction and must have no persuasive bearing on the verdict you arrive at under the evidence.
If a defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity, it is the court’s duty to commit the defendant to the Department of Human Services until such time as the court determines that the defendant no longer requires hospitalization because he [she] no longer suffers from a mental disease or defect which is likely to cause him [her] to be dangerous to himself [herself], to others, or to the community in the reasonably foreseeable future.
If a defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he or she will never again be tried on the merits of the criminal charges filed against him or her.
