TOPIC: Not Guilty By Reason of Temporary Insanity...
Have you ever noticed how many murder cases are being defended with this kind of plea? More and more, people who commit murder plead not guilty -- because they say they were "insane" at the time of the murder. There are two major problems with this line of defense.
First, no sane person takes another person's life -- in premeditated cold blood. It takes someone who does not have full control over their own mind, morals and motivation to commit murder. Therefore, the defense of temporary insanity is a moot point. Andrea Yates murdered her children. On the one hand, we all know no sane mother could drown her five children. On the other hand... we come to the second major problem with "temporary insanity".
Many defendents committed a crime that required forethought, planning and/or motive & opportunity. A person who is "out of his mind" and "not responsible for his actions" could not calculate, plan and carry out a murder. He/she would not be capable of such thought and action. Case in point -- Andrea Yates ran a tub full of water. She then methodically took each one of her children into the bathroom and drowned them. Then, she took the child to the bedroom and layed him/her out on the bed, side by side. She did this with each of her five children. There is no way she was temporarily insane in committing this henious act.
Personally, I've seen more than enough people who were not held responsible for their crimes because their attorney(s) claimed temporary insanity. It's high time we, as a nation, put a stop to this plea -- and forced attorneys to provide a real and valid means of defense. THINK it over!