Court Opinion

ID: 9633508
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:49:45.526215+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:36.671065
License: Public Domain

RANSOM, Justice (specially concurring). I specially concur. While I am in accord with much of the sentiment expressed by Justice Montgomery in his dissent, I cannot conclude with him that the guilty but mentally ill verdict is little more than a charade. I confess that my initial reaction to this case was that such verdict indeed was a subterfuge that surreptitiously deprived the defendant of her insanity defense. Upon much reflection, however, I now believe there is a substantial relationship between that verdict form and the interest of justice in that the verdict form does aid the jury to focus meaningfully on whether the mental disease at issue does or does not warrant a verdict of not guilty. To assure against the misuse of such verdict form, I nonetheless strongly urge that by appropriate instructions the jury be disabused of any misconception that the guilty but mentally ill verdict has consequences different than a guilty verdict.