State v. Sands

Defendant was indicted for first-degree murder, waived jury trial, presented an insanity defense, and was convicted by the court of second-degree murder. On appeal defendant asserts the evidence establishes as a matter of law he was insane at the time of the homicide, and thus his motion for judgment of acquittal should have been granted.

The threshold question presented is: Once a criminal defendant has introduced evidence of insanity, are there any circumstances under which he is entitled to a judgment of not guilty by reason of insanity as a matter of law, or, instead, is the question of…