The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-01-23
TOASKLAWF CASES|NVOLV|NG
 INSANITY PLEAS
Solicitor Tate Declares Crimi- nal Trials Should Not Be Clouded by Pleas
 of Insanity

Passage of law by the next legis- lature requiring all issues of insanity pleaded by defendants in criminal cases to be decided by a special jury prior to the actual trial on the merits and prohibiting the hearing of in- sanity pleas at the time the case is tried on its merits is advocated by Solicitor Joseph R. Tate.
 The solicitor stated yesterday that he will prepare a bill incorporatIng this idea, and have it presented to the next legislature for action as a means of preventing the clouding of the real issue involved in criminal trials by the introduction of A host of evidence on alleged insanity of the defendant. Such evidence Is often introduced in murder and other crim- fnal cases, he said, for the sole .pur- pose of confusing the jury and pre- venting its clear consideration of the actual facts connected with the crime itself.
 "The issue of insanity in crimi- nal cases is merely side issue" he said, and should be decided before the actual facts of the case are gone into to determine the guilt or inno- cense of the defendant of the crime charged against him. It should not be allowed to be dragged into the real case for the purpose of confus- on o 11nt 44.., having nothing to do with whether the defendant actually committed the crime of which he stands acc1sed or not. The matter of insanity should be decided by a special jury impan- eled to try that issue alone, with out regard to the evidence pertain ing to the crime itself If the de- fendant is found insane he should be confined in the asylum and not tried and if sane the trial jury should not be required to clutter their minds with a host of evidence deal ing entirely on the mental condition 10 do with the merits of the case. am going to prepare a bill incorpor- ating this idea for presentation to the next legislature"
 Hide Behind Insanity
 According to the solicitor, many states have laws requiring the issue of insanity to be decided by sep arate jury in advance of the actual trial. Such laws, he declared, have resulted in facilitation of the actual trial on the merits and more intel ligent verdicts in numbers of cases by the elimination of outside mat ters from the minds of the Jurors trying the actual case.
 Solicitor Tate declared that per son charged with homicide who have no defense usually resort to pleas of insanity and numbers of them whose guilt has been clearly established, have been allowed to escape the just punishment of their crimes through this subterfuge.
 "Whenever this plea is interposed as defense to an indictment charg- ing criminal offense," ,"(he said, the court, should be required to impanel a jury to try solely the issue of not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the commission of the of- fense. The only question which the jury should be allowed to decide should be whether or not the defend- ant was insane at the time of the commission of the crime. If the ver- dict of the jury shall be that the de- fendant was insane at the time the offense was committed, it should be the duty of the court to commit him to the state hospital for tho insane but if the verdict is that he was then sane the court should set his trial on the issue of not guilty and allow no further plea of insanity to be heard