State v. Weller

Defendant was tried on a charge of second degree theft committed by taking merchandise from a grocery store without paying for it. In defense he asserted that he suffered from a mental disease or defect excluding criminal responsibility. ORS 161.295. The episode occurred on January 9, 1977. During the preceding months defendant had been involuntarily committed to Dammasch State Hospital for the mentally ill, from January 20 to May 10, 1976, and had been rehospitalized there from July 23 to September 9, 1976. At trial, the court refused a defense request for an instruction that defendant’s…