Insanity defense rarely used and rarely successful

Was Julie Schenecker insane when police say she killed her two teenagers?

For some people, anyone who would kill their own children clearly must not be in their right mind. And the video of Schenecker shortly after her arrest - a vacant, non-blinking stare and uncontrollable trembling - did little to dispel that school of thought.

But selling that conclusion to jurors if the case comes to trial, legal observers say, will be tough, maybe impossible.

"A person can be crazy as hell, that doesn't mean they are criminally insane," said Cheney Mason, a veteran Orlando criminal defense lawyer. "It is talked about a lot, politicians rant and rave about it, but the use of the insanity defense is extremely rare."

Robert Batey, a criminal law professor at Stetson University College of Law, said he knows the public perception is that the insanity defense is used to keep people from being punished for their crimes. He said that's an untrue stereotype.

"It is very rarely invoked and when it is contested, it is very rarely successful," he said.

That's particularly true in Hillsborough County. It's been 20 years since a Hillsborough County jury found a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity.

That was in April 1990, when a jury deliberated for about 17 hours over three days before deciding then-18-year-old Claire Moritt was not guilty of drowning her newborn son in a college dormitory toilet.

The last successful local use of the plea before that was 14 years earlier, when one-time Tampa City Councilman William "Bill" Myers was acquitted of killing his son.

"It's a defense of last resort," said Norman Cannella, who has been both a prosecutor and defense lawyer in his 38-year-legal career. "It is most difficult to sell it to any jury."

To have a defendant found not guilty by reason of insanity, Florida law requires a defense to prove the defendant had a mental disease or defect that kept the accused from knowing the difference between right or wrong.

"That is a very steep burden," Batey said.

Batey said presenting an insanity defense has many stumbling blocks.

"Many jurors may feel that people who kill other people are dangerous and need to be incarcerated in prison rather than treated in a mental hospital," he said.

The professor said in some cases where a person is obviously mentally ill, prosecutors will agree the defendant is mentally ill, short-circuiting a trial.

One of the issues that often is key in a case with an insanity defense is whether there was pre-meditation of the crime.

"Does the person have ability to plan and make arrangement to carry out that plan? If they do, that could submarine an insanity defense," Cannella said.

Cannella said Schenecker's defense will have to deal with police assertions that she bought a gun days before the shooting.

Mental health advocates interviewed Monday said jurors can sometimes be swayed by the societal stigma attached to mental illness.

"People with mental illness are no more violent than the rest of the world, and people need to understand that," said Lee Carty, a spokeswoman for the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. "Every time these types of crimes are covered, it increases the stigma."

Schenecker, 50, faces two counts of first degree murder; charged with fatally shooting daughter Calyx, 16, and son Beau, 13. Police said Schenecker indicated she killed them because they were "mouthy." She has yet to enter a plea and is being held without bail.

Legal experts said it would be premature to speculate what defense Schenecker and her lawyers might use.

But they said her attorneys would be remiss not to question Schenecker's mental state.

"If there is any inkling of a mental problem, a defense attorney is obligated to explore the issue and seek neurological and psychological exams," Mason said. "Anything that could affect her judgment."

Mason said jurors usually don't accept insanity as a legal excuse.

"It is the bottom of the barrel as far as defenses are concerned," Mason said. "But sometimes, that is all there is."

813) 259-7698