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Criminal Law Keyed to Kadish
M’Naghten’s Case
ProfessorScott Caron
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
Defendant was charged with the murder of Edward Drummond, secretary to the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. Defendant mistook Drummond for Peel and shot Drummond by mistake. At the time of his arrest, he told police that he came to London to murder the Prime Minister because “the tories in my city follow and persecute me wherever I go, and have destroyed my peace of mind. They do everything in their power to harass and persecute me; in fact they wish to murder me.” Defense counsel introduced expert and lay witnesses who testified about Defendant’s obsession with delusions and that he suffered from acute insanity. The judge gave the jury an instruction regarding his lack of understanding upon commission of the act in question. The jury reached a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. Following the trial, there was a meeting at the House of Lords attended by fifteen judges in order to determine the standards for the insanity defense.
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Topic Resources
4m 59s