State v. Smith

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Schroeder, C.J.:

This is an appeal in a criminal action from a jury verdict which found David Earl Smith (defendant-appellant) guilty of one count of felony murder (K.S.A. 21-3401), one count of burglary (K.S.A. 21-3412), and one count of felony theft (K.S.A. 21-3701).

The sole question on appeal is whether it was error for the trial court to instruct the jury regarding the defendant’s insanity defense using the M’Naghten rule, and overruling the defendant’s requested instruction using the American Law Institute Model Penal Code test.

On January 20, 1976,…