State v. Reece

The defendant was charged upon two counts of assault, one of attempted rape, and one of manslaughter. He entered a special plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury found the defendant guilty of assault and manslaughter.

Upon his appeal, we are again asked to abandon the test of insanity commonly known as “M’Naghten’s rule” and to adopt the test proposed by the American Law Institute. In their agreed statement of the case, the parties have stipulated that there was sufficient evidence of insanity to support a verdict under the A.L.I. test as well as under the instructions given by the…