Ford v. Ford

The majority holds that one who has wilfully, deliberately and with premeditation killed another may be enriched by inheriting from the victim’s estate because the killer was found not to be criminally responsible for the murder by virtue of her insanity. In light of our state’s recognition that insane criminals are guilty of the crimes they commit and are personally and morally responsible for those crimes, I find the majority’s position to be untenable. I thus respectfully dissent.

This Court adopted “the slayer’s rule” in Price v. Hitaffer, 164 Md. 505, 165 A. 470 (1933), on the basis that…