Court Opinion

ID: 9747499
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:18:33.109138+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:24.166931
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mb. Justice Robeets:
The majority states that since this Court recently approved the proposition that a criminal defendant has the burden of proving insanity by a preponderance of the evidence in Commonwealth v. Vogel, 440 Pa. 1, 268 A. 2d 89 (1970), “. . . nothing would be gained by further discussion. . . .” They are probably right, but I cannot again allow the affirmance of a conviction based on what I consider to be an erroneous and unwise view *398of the law to pass unchallenged. To impose criminal punishment upon an individual who was, under the strictest standard, mentally incompetent at the time the “crime” was committed is the height of irrationality. It will not deter future criminal acts, it will not appreciably aid in the unfortunate individual’s rehabilitation, and, arguendo that vengeance is at least a de facto element of our criminal law, it is barbaric to so punish one who could not control his actions. As I said in Vogel, supra: “For a defendant to be guilty of murder, the ‘muscular contraction’ must be coupled with a mens rea—‘malice aforethought express or implied.’ Commonwealth v. Drum, 58 Pa. 9, 15 (1868). This mens rea is as much an element of the crime of murder as is the physical act of killing,” 440 Pa. at 15, 268 A. 2d at 90, and the Commonwealth should have the burden of proving defendant’s sanity beyond a reasonable doubt.
I dissent.