What is more certain is that insanity defence claims are very rarely successful. How often the insanity defence is actually used remains difficult to determine, but researchers have estimated that insanity pleas are probably used in only 1% of all US felony cases. Mental disorder does not equate with being not guilty of one's crimes. This does not necessarily mean that all mentally-disordered persons are not criminally responsible, nor does it mean that criminal responsibility requires the individual to be perfectly healthy.
![instanity cases gone wrong california instanity cases gone wrong california](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r49OpWFDul4/T7-p3nhrNBI/AAAAAAAA40I/erxI6VK3QJ8/s1600/10.jpg)
![instanity cases gone wrong california instanity cases gone wrong california](https://www.rapmusicguide.com/amass/images/inventory/4359/Scarface%20-%20Mr.%20Scraface%20Is%20Back%20rear.jpg)
![instanity cases gone wrong california instanity cases gone wrong california](https://images.thegillcenter.com/content/images/face-neck-lift-474-right-side-detail.jpg)
#INSTANITY CASES GONE WRONG CALIFORNIA PATCH#
Patch has requested comment from the defendant's attorneys, Robert Beles and Anne Beles. in the Martinez courthouse, according to the district attorney's office.
#INSTANITY CASES GONE WRONG CALIFORNIA TRIAL#
28 this year that Sydenham, who had a relationship with the victim, had been overheard in the victim's apartment around the time of the murder and that his DNA matched blood found on Sydenham's shoes at the time of her arrest.Īt that hearing, Judge Patricia Scalon ruled that a "strong suspicion" exists of Sydenham's culpability and that she must face trial for murder.Ī medical hearing has been set for Jan. Prosecution witnesses testified at Sydenham's preliminary hearing on Aug. Her plea was entered in hearing in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez on Friday, according to the district attorney's office. His body was found in his blood-spattered apartment with a knife stuck in his heart in August last year, authorities said. The Albany woman accused of murdering a retired Kensington psychologist with a steak knife to the heart has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney's office.ĭiane Sydenham, 57, has been charged with murdering James Durkin, 81, in his in-law unit in a home in the 600 block of Coventry Road in Kensington.