State v. Messier

This is an interlocutory appeal from a decision of the Orleans District Court, holding Vermont’s insanity defense statute, 13 V.S.A. § 4801 (b), unconstitutional. Clifford Messier, the defendant, stands charged with murder in the first degree. During pretrial proceedings, Messier gave notice of his intention to rely upon a defense of insanity, in accordance with V.R.Cr.P. 12.1, and then requested the court to instruct the jury that the State bears the burden of proof of a defendant’s sanity beyond a reasonable doubt, notwithstanding the Vermont statute placing the burden of proof of insanity…