Opinion ID: 837929
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Current Law Regarding Insanity

Text: In 1994, the Legislature slightly revised the definition of legal insanity and further provided that a defendant has the burden of proving insanity by a preponderance of the evidence. MCL 768.21a(1) and (3). [11] Legal insanity is now a statutorily granted affirmative defense [12] requiring proof that, as a result of mental illness or being mentally retarded as defined in the mental health code, the defendant lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his or her conduct or to conform his or her conduct to the requirements of the law. MCL 768.21a(1). [13] And, as previously mentioned, pursuant to MCL 768.29a(2) and MCL 768.36, if a defendant asserts an insanity defense at trial, the jury must also be instructed regarding the guilty but mentally ill verdict. [14] There are several procedural requirements that must be satisfied before a defendant can raise an insanity defense. [15] We recently summarized those requirements in People v. Toma, 462 Mich. 281, 292 n. 6, 613 N.W.2d 694 (2000): A defendant in a felony case who wishes to interpose an insanity defense, must serve written notice on the court and the prosecutor not less than thirty days before trial and submit to a court-ordered examination, relating to the claim of insanity, by personnel for the center for forensic psychiatry or other qualified personnel. MCL 768.20a(1) and (2); MSA 28.1043(1)(1) and (2). A defendant or the prosecutor may also obtain independent psychiatric examinations. MCL 768.20a(3); MSA 28.1043(1)(3). The failure by the defendant to fully cooperate in either the court-directed or independent examinations, bars the defendant from presenting testimony relating to insanity at trial. MCL 768.20a(4); MSA 28.1043(1)(4). As this Court noted in People v. Hayes, 421 Mich. 271, 288, 364 N.W.2d 635 (1984), the Center for Forensic Psychiatry is an independent branch of the state government. According to the Michigan Department of Community Health's website, the Center for Forensic Psychiatry is a 210-bed psychiatric facility located in Ann Arbor [16] that provides both diagnostic services to the criminal justice system and psychiatric treatment for criminal defendants adjudicated incompetent to stand trial and/or acquitted by reason of insanity. [17] The forensic center performs approximately 3,100 diagnostic evaluations each year to determine defendants' competency to stand trial [18] and insanity at the times they allegedly committed their crime. Id.