People v. Gorniak

The narrow issue presented in this appeal is whether, under the circumstances of this case, the trial judge was required to inform the defendant before accepting his guilty plea that his intoxication at the time he allegedly killed his father-in-law might be an affirmative defense to the charge. We hold that he was not so required.

On October 27, 1975, the defendant was charged with the first-degree murder of his father-in-law. He initially entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The court ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the defendant. The resulting psychiatric…