James Holmes was found guilty of first degree murder last Thursday for the deaths of 12 people in the July 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting. The insanity defense that his team tried proved unsuccessful, and Holmes will now be sentenced for his crimes.

Holmes faced two counts of first degree murder for each of the twelve victims killed during the shooting. The jury found him guilty on all 24 counts. The jury also found Holmes guilty of attempted murder on all of the 140 counts against him for the 70 people wounded in the shooting. Additionally, he was found guilty of one count of possession or control of an explosive or incendiary. He faced a total of 165 charges, a decision that took the jury 12.5 hours to reach. Now the same jurors are faced with the task of sentencing him to death. This process began yesterday. His attorneys are expected to raise his mental illness again during the penalty portion.

Holmes who had pleaded not guilty by reasons of insanity, but admitted to the killings, showed no reaction as the verdict was announced. His attorneys were pushing for him to be committed to a mental hospital for the rest of his life, while state prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.

Even though Holmes did not take the stand, the jury did hear from him via the 22 hours of recorded psychiatric interviews he had at both the Colorado Mental Health institute in Pueblo and at the jail where he is being held. Two defense psychiatrists testified that Holmes suffered a psychotic break the night of the murders and could not discern between right and wrong, but two-court appointed psychiatrists told the jury the defendant was mentally ill, but not insane. While those sound interchangeable, there’s actually important distinctions under the law.

In pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, James Holmes attempted to do something no accused mass shooter in America has done in more than 20 years–win a case with the insanity defense. Holmes faced long odds for a defense that studies show is raised in only about one percent of all felony cases nationally and successful in only about a quarter of those.

Mass shooters very rarely survive their crimes to face court charges. According to a database of American mass shootings in the last 30 years, suspects in only 19 of 61 mass shootings examined were arrested. Others either committed suicide or were killed during the shooting. Of those 19, only four, including Holmes, pleaded insanity.

The reason for the low success rate is the high bar that laws set for the insanity defense. In Colorado, it is not enough for defendants to be mentally ill. Instead, the law defines insanity as having judgment so impaired by mental illness that the defendant could not tell right from wrong. Given Holmes’ vivid plan, this did not appear to be the case.

The primary factor in determining insanity is the intensive mental health evaluations that a defendant pleading insanity is required to undergo. The judge overseeing the case this week ordered Holmes to be evaluated at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo. After several hours of evaluations, it was determined that his insanity plea was not plausible.

Evidence shows that Holmes’ plan, to some degree, was thought out beforehand. Holmes bought a ticket 12 days before the July 19 showing, and walked into the theater screening of the “The Dark Knight Rises” like any other movie goer. He then walked out through a rear door, which he left propped open. Just after midnight, about 20 minutes after the movie began, he returned wearing a ballistic helmet, a gas mask, black gloves, and protective gear for his legs, throat and groin. A tear gas canister exploded in the theater, then gunfire erupted from an AR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and at least one .40 caliber handgun. The shooting stopped with Holmes’ arrest outside the theater about seven minutes after the first 911 calls were made to police.

Given that evidence of his plan, it was not hard for members of the jury to believe that Holmes did not meet the bar for the insanity defense. “Look at the evidence, then hold this man accountable,” Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said. “Reject this claim that he didn’t know right from wrong when he murdered those people and tried to kill the others…that guy was sane beyond a reasonable doubt, and he needs to be held accountable for what he did.”

With the jury certain that Holmes does not fit the bill for the insanity defense, it is not clear where their decision will fall in terms of Holmes receiving the death penalty. As one of the largest mass murderers in American history awaits his fate, we will have to see what the jury ultimately decides.

Angel Idowu

Angel Idowu is a member of the Beloit College Class of 2016 and was a Law Street Media Fellow for the Summer of 2015. Contact Angel at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Guilty Verdict for James Holmes: Does the Insanity Defense Ever Work? appeared first on Law Street.

In 1981 a 25-year-old John Hinckley Jr., armed with a .22 caliber revolver, attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan outside the Washington Hilton hotel in a deranged effort to impress actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley wounded four people, including Reagan. Now at age 59, the man responsible for almost killing Reagan could receive more freedom from the mental facility that has housed him for over 30 years.

Federal courts to decide whether Ronald Reagan shooter could be moved into his mom’s home http://t.co/cmIf7GFzfj pic.twitter.com/c3NST6IZBZ

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) April 19, 2015

At his trial in 1982 Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has been confined at Washington D.C.’s St. Elizabeths Hospital ever since. Since December 2013 Hinckley has been allowed leave from the hospital 17 days a month to stay with his mother in Williamsburg, Virginia. A federal judge is currently weighing recommendations from Hinckley’s doctors that he receive more freedom.  According to NBC Washington, this could mean he receives leave 24 days a month, which was previously requested, or full-time, year-round “convalescent leave” in town.

According to the Washington Post, mental health professionals have allowed Hinckley to take daily walks by himself and go on a number of unsupervised outings of up to four hours each month. He’s also allowed to drive to places where he is expected. But these outings aren’t without exceptions. Hinckley is required to carry a GPS-enabled cell phone during unsupervised activities and he and his mother must call the hospital at least once a day during each visit. His internet access has also been extremely limited and he is required to log all of his daily activities.

Critics of Hinckley’s potential release still see the man as a threat to society with a history of deceptive behavior including lying about his whereabouts, but his lawyer Barry Levin says that’s not the case. According to CBS News, Levine said that psychological testing designed to predict violence shows Hinckley’s risk of being dangerous is “decidedly low.”

In 2014 Reagan’s press secretary James Brady, who was shot in the head by Hinckley during the assassination attempt, had his death ruled a homicide as a result of complications from his injuries. The shooting left him with slurred speech and partial paralysis that required the full-time use of a wheelchair. Prosecutors decided not to charge Hinckley with Brady’s murder after reviewing the case.

Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis has been outspoken on the issue, saying she doesn’t want her father’s shooter to ever go free. In a post written by Davis which originally appeared on her website Books by Patti Davis. and was republished by the Daily Beast, Davis writes:

I will forever be haunted by a drizzly March afternoon when my father almost died, when Jim Brady lay in a pool of blood and two other men — Thomas Delahanty and Timothy McCarthy — were gravely wounded. If John Hinckley is haunted by anything, I think it’s that he didn’t succeed in his mission to assassinate the President.

The judge is poised to decide soon if Hinckley will be granted more freedom, but the government seems unlikely likely to grant the would-be assassin full time leave, despite his doctor’s claims that he is now mentally competent. Hinckley may have not been found guilty, but he will most likely still be somewhat confined for the rest of his life.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Freedom Possible for Attempted Reagan Assassin John Hinckley Jr. appeared first on Law Street.

Mental illness and criminal law mix as well as oil and vinegar. Law desires reason and cause. The reason and cause of mental illness is often difficult to detect. While our scientific grasp on mental illness is growing, the evidence of how and why it might influence an individual’s behavior is often more nebulous than a legal professional might prefer, especially in the case of violent crime.

That’s what makes the insanity defense such a controversial topic.

Mental illnesses are real and often incapacitating, but how can you definitively prove they exist in courtroom arguments?

Below we’ll dig into why the brain is so mysterious, what this mystery means for the insanity defense, and what scientific steps we’re taking to de-mystify our own brains.

The Brain: Anatomy’s Rubik’s Cube

Our brain and its team of 100 billion neurons puppet our every move, thought, and action. It’s truly a wondrous biological mechanism, allowing us to solve a number of puzzles–except the puzzle that the brain itself presents. It’s one of anatomy’s cruelest jokes. Our body’s own mechanism for logic doesn’t quite understand itself. Yet.

After years of research and remarkable breakthroughs, many aspects of the brain and mind remain tauntingly elusive. This is not an insult to scientists, but more of a testament to the brain’s enormous complexity.

John Cleese’s parody video below captures the brain’s mystique.

Time out…the brain AND the mind?

Are the brain and the mind different? Don’t worry, I’m not opening a philosophical debate. But for the purpose of the following discussion, we need to view the brain and the mind as separate entities.

In discussing mental illness and criminal law, the difference between the brain and the mind comes down to the difference between psychology and physiology.

The physiology of the brain refers to those biological functions it performs. Neurons using electrical impulses to communicate with other cells is a biological function. Some illnesses, like psychosis, can be traced to physiological malfunctions that result from things like brain tumors.

Dr. Allan Reiss discusses the physiological aspects of mental illness in the video below, as well as his ambitions for pinpointing the specific diseases instead of symptoms.

Psychology, on the other hand, refers to the more nebulous mind. While scientists do believe the mind is influenced and even dependent on the physiological functions of the brain, it’s difficult to make a direct connection. Many individuals exhibit symptoms of behavioral disorders that can be linked only to the mind and have no known physiological causes. In these cases, psychological diagnoses usually rely on observations and questions about a person’s feelings, moods, actions, and behaviors.

This will be important later, when we’re talking about hard evidence in insanity pleas.

Communication Breakdown

The mind is associated with will power and “the self.” It’s hard to accept that complex mechanisms in our brains might drive the show instead of us.

The brain is unfathomably complex. It contains billions of neurons whose interactions determine your body’s functioning by communicating through a series of electrical signals. Everything we do relies on how neurons communicate with one another. Disruptions in this communication because of abnormal functioning of brain circuits may be an underlying cause of mental illness. If connections between certain messaging pathways in the brain are disrupted, the way it processes information might also be disrupted and abnormal perception, moods, or behaviors can result.

In summary, mental illness happens when the brain cannot effectively coordinate the billions of cells it controls.

Mental Illness and Crime

So mental illness results when the brain cannot effectively coordinate some of the billions of cells it controls. Unfortunately, figuring out exactly where the coordination faltered among the brain’s billions of cells and functions is like figuring out who lead the applause in a crowded stadium.

This lack of certainty creates a convoluted intersection for mental health and criminal law. The insanity defense exists to make sure no one is imprisoned who didn’t truly understand the consequences of their actions due to mental illness. If mental illness did impair their sense of consequence and right and wrong, they may be declared not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). People found NGRI do not walk free–many are committed to mental institutions for at least as long as their criminal sentence would be.

For an insanity plea to hold weight, the defense must prove that the criminal’s mental condition directly influenced their actions at the time of the crime and inhibited their ability to appreciate that their actions were wrong.

Disorders with the most potent insanity defenses are those with physiological evidence that the condition caused an altered perception of reality or impaired ability to control behavior. For example, an X-ray clearly depicting a brain tumor that might have caused hallucinations is stronger evidence than a patchy history of emotional disturbances. If there is trauma, injury, tumors, or physical elements like epilepsy, the case will hold more weight than just a mere history of psychological episodes.

According to Richard McNally, PhD, a clinical psychologist at Harvard University:

“Certain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism fit the biological model in a very clear-cut sense.”

If you have biological indicators from dissections and imaging scans, you have more evidence that connects a disorder with a behavior.

Which disorders have the necessary elements?

While we don’t know the absolute and irrefutable causes of many mental illnesses, we do have evidence that some are more rooted in biology than others.

Voluntary intoxication doesn’t cut it.  Neither do pedophilia or pyromania, which are considered strictly antisocial personality disorders and are linked to thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and not dysfunctions of the brain.

People with psychosis have a skewed sense of reality. They are plagued by delusions and hallucinations that can severely impact their behavior. People with severe depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia often suffer from psychosis. It has many possible causes rooted in biology including tumors, cysts, dementia, and stroke.

Those suffering from severe depression experience constant feelings of sadness or apathy. It affects how they feel, think, and react to many aspects of life. In some cases, like postpartum depression, victims can suffer from delusions and hallucinations. Chemical imbalances, changes in genes, and traumatic events are all possible causes.

Mania or bipolar disorder is associated with abnormally elevated moods that can lead to unpredictable behavior and impaired judgement. The severity of the disorder is determined by how fervent and incapacitating the abnormal moods are. Scientists haven’t discovered a single cause for bipolar disorder, but they’ve found compelling evidence that genetics and brain structure might play a role.

People with anxiety disorders suffer from anxiety that exceeds normal functional levels. They are unable to control it and it subsequently controls them. Post traumatic stress disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. While it’s triggered by an environmental trauma, some say genetics might play a major role in susceptibility.

Andrea Yates was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she murdered her children by drowning them. She was convicted at first, but her long, undeniable history of mental illness, attempted suicides, and extensive medical records led to a reversed decision that she was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Advances in Detection

There isn’t a test for detecting mental illness as finite as a blood test or an X-ray, but scientists are working on it. The idea is to prove that the mind and brain are one and the same and that all mental processes are brain processes. The brain is a biological organ so mental illness must have a testable, biological component and explanation. This would provide that solid link and evidence that forensic psychologists everywhere would cheer for.

Thomas R. Insel, MD, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, doesn’t think mental illnesses should be treated any differently from other chronic illnesses. He says,

“The only difference here is that the organ of interest is the brain instead of the heart or pancreas. But the same basic principles apply.”

Insel argues that EKGs and CT images allow us to explore the heart in ways unthinkable 100 years ago, and that similar breakthroughs could be coming down the pike for the brain. Advancements are already being made in neuroimaging that enable studies of brain structure and function. Positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computer tomography (SPECT), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) get us as close as we can possibly get to peering into the brain. Using this imaging, scientists have been able to make possible connections between brain pathways and mental disorders. They’ve also uncovered the functioning of previously mysterious brain regions.

The video below shows how scientists are also making waves in understanding how brain circuits might lead to mental illness.

Solving the Rubik’s Cube

Every advancement in detecting biological clues for mental illness would provide more evidence and substantial links for criminal cases involving people who are mentally ill.

With every advancement we make in solving the brain’s mysteries, another piece of the billion-square Rubik’s cube clicks into place. Earlier, I called the brain one of anatomy’s cruelest jokes because it doesn’t quite understand itself. But just like a real Rubik’s cube, even seemingly unsolvable puzzles can be cracked. Just because we don’t understand all of the intricate workings of our brains now, doesn’t mean we won’t ever. If any entity in the world is able to figure out the human brain, it’s the wondrous human brain itself.

Resources

Primary

APA: The Roots of Mental Illness

NIH: Brain Basics

APA: Assessing the Evidence of a Link Between Mental Illness and Violent

 Additional

Psychology Today: The Insanity Defense

WebMD: The Brain and Mental Illness

ABA: Criminal Justice Section Standards: Mental Health

Find Law: Current Application of the Insanity Defense

BrainFacts: Understanding Mental Disorders as Circuit Disorders

Ashley Bell

Ashley Bell communicates about health and wellness every day as a non-profit Program Manager. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from the College of William and Mary, and loves to investigate what changes in healthy policy and research might mean for the future. Contact Ashley at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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