Supreme Court upholds Arizona law on insanity defense

Friday, June 30, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Supreme Court upholds Arizona law on insanity defense
By The Associated Press and The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Arizona's law on the insanity defense is not too restrictive in limiting evidence defendants can present at trial.

By a 6-3 vote, justices affirmed the murder conviction of Eric Clark, who thought he was being pursued by space aliens when he killed an Arizona police officer. Clark, a paranoid schizophrenic who was 17 at the time, is serving 25 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors acknowledged Clark's illness but argued that the schizophrenia did not keep him from understanding right from wrong at the time of the shooting.

Under Arizona's law, defendants may be found "guilty except insane" only if they prove they were so mentally ill that they did not know what they did was wrong.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003095426_scotusdefense30.html