Ms. Jones is a forty-seven-year old female, referred for examination after she had partially disemboweled a young man, apparently without any provocation. Ms. Jones occupied an apartment on the second floor of a home owned by a distant relative. On the day of the instant offense, as the son of this relative was coming home, he saw some keys on the lawn. He called up, "Ms. Jones are these yours"? She kind of grunted, and he walked upstairs with the keys. He knocked on the door, and as he opened it with one hand, she knifed him in the abdomen with a large butcher knife which she was holding in the other hand. He survived and pressed charges against her. When examined for the court by a mental health forensic team they learned the following. She first came to the attention of the authorities fifteen years before the current offense. At that time, in her own home, she had been sitting on her boyfriend's lap. He got up to announce that his driver was there to take him to his job. She asked if he would take her to the state hospital the next day to visit her mother who was in the hospital for mental illness. He replied, "Of course, I always do when I have time", whereupon she picked up a pistol and shot him. Her mother was not in the hospital, but had died at the hospital. She was psychotic at the time and was taken to the state hospital. Her boyfriend refused to press charges, and after she recovered she was released to the community. Between that episode and the offense that led to her current forensic examination, Ms. Jones was hospitalized twelve times in four different hospitals and had three different diagnoses: Schizophrenia, paranoid type, Schizophrenia catatonic type, and Bipolar disorder. She has been existing on Social Security disability and had no other violent episodes besides the shooting of her boyfriend. On examination, Ms. Jones gave an extremely interesting history after successfully completing competency restoration at the state hospital. Her mother died in the state hospital. One sister had committed suicide following a second admission to the state hospital. She described herself as having been an outgoing, gregarious person prior to her illness, a good worker with lots of friends. It is noted, however, that she had worked in three different cities before seeking employment in her home town. She could recall no reason why she should have shot her boyfriend fifteen years ago, nor could she furnish any reason why she had knifed the young man, even though that even had taken place just four months before her examination. She did remember that she had been having difficulty for about three to four days prior to the offense. She had not been sleeping well. Strange things began to happen. The stove, the washing machine, and the refrigerator all began to talk to and about, her. They began discussing her on the radio. Even after she had broken the radio by turning the dial rapidly in order to find a station where she was not being discussed. The conversation persisted. She could stop them from discussing her on television by turning the set off. She stated that she had recognized the young man when he called up to her apartment about the keys, but in the interval before he knocked on the door, she must have become confused and had mistaken him for the enemy, against whom she would have to protect herself. Asked if she thought she was insane at the time, her answer was, "When the stove and the refrigerator and the washing machine start talking to you, there's got to be something wrong. They can't talk". 

Describe which defense would be the best societal option for disposing of this kind of case and provide a justification for your answer given the defendant's history, mental condition and any safety.

 

concerns (An acquittal by reason of insanity (NGRI); Guilty, But Mentally Ill (GBMI), or Guilty Except Insane (GEI). (Worth 20 points).

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Given the complex nature of the case involving Ms Jones her history of mental illness and the details of the offenses the defense option of Guilty But ... View the full answer