![]() If the defendant is found "guilty except insane," the judge will sentence the defendant to a term of prison in the state department of corrections and will order that the defendant be placed under the jurisdiction of the psychiatric security review board and committed to a state mental health facility under the department of health services. After the experts have examined the defendant, they will submit a written evaluation to the court. These individuals are licensed specialists who are not only familiar with mental diseases, but familiar with state insanity statutes. Upon arrival, experts will examine the defendant to see if he/she is truly insane. What Happens After this Plea is Made?Īfter a defendant makes this plea, he/she is usually sent to a state mental health facility, a county mental health evaluation and treatment facility or another mental health facility for up to 30 days. Mott, the Arizona Supreme Court held that, "Arizona does not allow evidence of a defendant's mental disorder short of insanity to negate the mens rea elements of a crime." Mens rea simply means "guilty mind." Mens rea is the mental element of an offense that accompanies the actus reus (guilty act). In deviation from the M'Naghten standard, in Arizona you cannot plead "Not guilty by reason of insanity." Under State v. The new standard said that an individual could plead "guilty except insane if at the time of the commission of the criminal act the person was afflicted with a mental disease or defect of such severity that the person did not know the criminal act was wrong." In 1994, the Arizona legislature altered its insanity defense, getting rid of the M'Naghten standard. The "Guilty except insane" verdict finds a mentally ill defendant criminally liable but requires them to receive psychiatric treatment while imprisoned or to be placed in a mental hospital before later being moved to prison to carry out their sentence.
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