People v. Wernick

Friedmann, J. (dissenting).

I respectfully dissent in the following opinion, and vote to reverse the defendant’s conviction and to remit the matter to the County Court, Nassau County, for a Frye hearing and a new trial.

The defendant does not deny that she killed her baby immediately after it was born. However, she claims that when she did so she was suffering from a type of reactive psychosis following a pathological denial of her pregnancy. It was the *55theory of the defense that the so-called neonaticide syndrome caused her to lack substantial capacity to know and to appreciate the nature and…