Opinion ID: 1762922
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: And later:)

Text: Q Okay. David let's go back into your reason for this, can you tell me the exact reason why you did this? (long pause) Can you or you don't want to? A I don't know. Q You don't know the reason? A Not really. The defendant's own incomprehension of his actions was something to which the jury undoubtedly related all too well because those actions would have been equally incomprehensible to the jury, a jury which we fairly may be able to presume to have been sane. Undoubtedly, with regard to such statements on the defendant's part, to the jury's consideration was added the testimony of some of the defendant's family to the effect that they did not think that he was insane. Furthermore, it is only reasonable to assume the jury's recognition of the series of rational moves implicit in defendant's admission to the police that after the murder he went home, put his bloody clothes in a bag, took a shower, went to bed and laundered the clothes the next day. All of this certainly constitutes some evidence of sanity. The application in State v. Roy, supra of the Jackson v. Virginia, standard of review to the affirmative defense of insanity had the result of substituting this court's finding of insanity for the jury's finding of insanity in virtually every case involving a person who is dangerously insane. Nevertheless, in the present case it is possible to say that the defendant's extensive dialogues with the police not only describe possibly sane actions surrounding the attack by him on the victim but also reveal something of his mental state for the jury's benefit. When this evidence is combined with the lay testimony to the effect that the defendant appeared sane, it may have been sufficient to overcome the evidence presented by the expert testimony of insanity, even under the State v. Roy, supra , standard of review. Consequently, it must be concluded that there was presented sufficient evidence of sanity with regard to the defendant's state of mind. Accordingly, there is no evidence on this issue of any denial of due process with regard to the defendant. This claim of error is without merit.