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http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4745027&nav=Bsmh
Schlosser verdict revives debate over insanity defense
McKINNEY, Texas -- A prosecutor says the verdict of not guilty by insanity for a woman whose baby died after she cut off the 10-month-old's arms shows lawmakers need to revisit the state's insanity defense law.
"We don't have a good process for handling these situations," Assistant District Attorney Curtis Howard said after Friday's ruling in Dena Schlosser's retrial. "I think this is something the Legislature needs to look at."
The comment reflects calls to reform the insanity plea in Texas, an issue debated by the Legislature in the past few years. Mental health advocates want more inclusive criteria for the insanity verdict. Victims rights groups have called for a narrower legal definition of insanity and penalties that go beyond hospital treatment to include jail time.
A judge in McKinney delivered the verdict for Schlosser on Friday during her retrial on capital murder. Lawyers for both sides had agreed to let Judge Chris Oldner rule on the case after a jury deadlocked in February, forcing a mistrial.
State law on the insanity defense says attorneys must show that severe mental problems kept the defendant from knowing right from wrong at the time of the crime.
Howard said Friday he did not believe Schlosser was legally insane and she should have been held accountable for severing baby Maggie's arms with a kitchen knife at her Plano apartment in November 2004.
Schlosser's case is the latest in a series of capital murder trials of Texas mothers who have killed their children, then pleaded insanity.
Andrea Yates, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, awaits a new trial for drowning her five children in a bathtub. Deanna Laney, who bludgeoned her two children to death with a rock, was acquitted by reason of insanity in 2004.
Lawmakers and defense attorneys say the highly publicized trials of Schlosser, Yates and Laney may mislead people to think that the defense is overused. But a report by the Senate Committee on Jurisprudence says about one percent of felony defendants plead insanity and only one-third are successful.
State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, the committee's chair, defended Friday's verdict and the state's standard for insanity.
"I cannot imagine that it would be very difficult to find someone insane who cuts off her own baby's arms," he said. "For the prosecutor to say we need to tighten up on this, I am a law-and-order guy, but there needs to be some reasonable amount of common sense."
The state senate considered adopting measures from other states like the "guilty but insane" verdict which combines jail time with mental health treatment, but decided the problem lay elsewhere, said the Wentworth, a Republican from San Antonio.
Instead, the state adopted changes last year that tighten up supervision of defendants released after treatment in state hospitals, giving judges greater supervision over them.
Schlosser will be sent to the maximum security state mental hospital in Vernon, where she will remain until the judge deems her no longer a threat.
The new law gives the judge authority over her for the rest of her life, said Denise Brady, director of public policy for the Mental Health Association in Austin.
Her group supports the Schlosser verdict and wants the law broadened so more mentally ill defendants receive treatment rather than jail time.
Shannon Edmonds, staff attorney with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said the group was remaining neutral on the debate.
There was little legislative support last session for toughening the criteria for the insanity defense, and most past efforts have been to expand the definition, he said.
Wentworth said the Legislature is not currently considering any further changes to insanity law.
http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4745027&nav=Bsmh
Schlosser verdict revives debate over insanity defense
McKINNEY, Texas -- A prosecutor says the verdict of not guilty by insanity for a woman whose baby died after she cut off the 10-month-old's arms shows lawmakers need to revisit the state's insanity defense law.
"We don't have a good process for handling these situations," Assistant District Attorney Curtis Howard said after Friday's ruling in Dena Schlosser's retrial. "I think this is something the Legislature needs to look at."
The comment reflects calls to reform the insanity plea in Texas, an issue debated by the Legislature in the past few years. Mental health advocates want more inclusive criteria for the insanity verdict. Victims rights groups have called for a narrower legal definition of insanity and penalties that go beyond hospital treatment to include jail time.
A judge in McKinney delivered the verdict for Schlosser on Friday during her retrial on capital murder. Lawyers for both sides had agreed to let Judge Chris Oldner rule on the case after a jury deadlocked in February, forcing a mistrial.
State law on the insanity defense says attorneys must show that severe mental problems kept the defendant from knowing right from wrong at the time of the crime.
Howard said Friday he did not believe Schlosser was legally insane and she should have been held accountable for severing baby Maggie's arms with a kitchen knife at her Plano apartment in November 2004.
Schlosser's case is the latest in a series of capital murder trials of Texas mothers who have killed their children, then pleaded insanity.
Andrea Yates, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, awaits a new trial for drowning her five children in a bathtub. Deanna Laney, who bludgeoned her two children to death with a rock, was acquitted by reason of insanity in 2004.
Lawmakers and defense attorneys say the highly publicized trials of Schlosser, Yates and Laney may mislead people to think that the defense is overused. But a report by the Senate Committee on Jurisprudence says about one percent of felony defendants plead insanity and only one-third are successful.
State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, the committee's chair, defended Friday's verdict and the state's standard for insanity.
"I cannot imagine that it would be very difficult to find someone insane who cuts off her own baby's arms," he said. "For the prosecutor to say we need to tighten up on this, I am a law-and-order guy, but there needs to be some reasonable amount of common sense."
The state senate considered adopting measures from other states like the "guilty but insane" verdict which combines jail time with mental health treatment, but decided the problem lay elsewhere, said the Wentworth, a Republican from San Antonio.
Instead, the state adopted changes last year that tighten up supervision of defendants released after treatment in state hospitals, giving judges greater supervision over them.
Schlosser will be sent to the maximum security state mental hospital in Vernon, where she will remain until the judge deems her no longer a threat.
The new law gives the judge authority over her for the rest of her life, said Denise Brady, director of public policy for the Mental Health Association in Austin.
Her group supports the Schlosser verdict and wants the law broadened so more mentally ill defendants receive treatment rather than jail time.
Shannon Edmonds, staff attorney with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said the group was remaining neutral on the debate.
There was little legislative support last session for toughening the criteria for the insanity defense, and most past efforts have been to expand the definition, he said.
Wentworth said the Legislature is not currently considering any further changes to insanity law.
