People v. Somers

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Chemung County (Castellino, J.), rendered November 7, 1986, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crimes of attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the first degree.

Defendant, jilted by his girlfriend, went to the home of her new suitor and attacked him with a knife, causing severe lacerations. At trial, the theory of defense was that defendant suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder, as a result of a childhood tragedy and service in Vietnam, and was in a dissociative state or psychogenic fugue at the time of the assault and…