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Criminal Law Keyed to Gershowitz
Commonwealth v. Shin
Citation:
16 N.E.3d 1122.Facts
The defendant was convicted of assault and battery after he groped a woman on a train. At trial, the defendant’s primary defense was lack of criminal responsibility, specifically that he was unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. An expert testified that the defendant was experiencing auditory hallucinations and that “there’s no dispute that he’s been suffering from schizophrenia.”
The defendant had a significant history of hospitalization for mental illness. He was hospitalized by court order on six different occasions. Further, at the time of the incident, the expert testified that the defendant was not taking his medication and was experiencing an increase in some of the symptoms that he’s experienced over the seven years. The expert also testified that he misinterprets his social cues in the environment thinking an individual is communicating something to him when in actuality they are not and when an individual engages in a particular act that has nothing to do with him, he interprets it as a message to him in some way. Given those circumstances, the expert stated that he’s unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or conform his behaviors to the requirements of the law.
The trial court found him guilty, stating that the defendant “knew that if he didn’t take his medication” he was likely to commit further crimes “and he went ahead anyway and stopped taking his medication.” He appealed.
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