People v. Higgins

Defendant, a 22-year-old epileptic, was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. He was charged with causing the death, on the night of April 17, 1957, of Patricia Buland, a girl of 19, by striking her face and head with a hammer at least 19 times while they were seated together in the rear seat of his automobile in the County of Kings.

On his arraignment, he entered a plea of not guilty with a specification of insanity. He sought to establish at the trial that at the time of the homicidal assault on decedent he was in the throes of an epileptic rage or furor attack, and…