The Insanity Defence: Forensic Psychiatry in High-Profile Trials

In criminal law, guilt requires not only having committed the act (objective imputation) but having done so with the capacity to understand its unlawfulness and to act according to that understanding (subjective imputation). When the accused's mental health is compromised, the defense strategy shifts radically: the goal may not be to deny the fact, but to demonstrate that the client is not criminally responsible. This is the terrain of exemptions and mitigating factors due to mental anomaly or alteration (art. 20.1 CP).

The Great Difference: Psychopathy vs. Psychosis

One of the most common mistakes is confusing the psychopath with the psychotic. For Spanish jurisprudence, the psychopath (antisocial personality disorder) perfectly understands what they are doing; they simply do not care emotionally. Therefore, they are fully imputable and their coldness can even act as an aggravating factor. In contrast, a psychotic break (paranoid schizophrenia, delusions) implies a break with reality. If the accused acted under the imperative of a hallucinatory "voice", they lack volitional freedom. Here lies the expert battle: demonstrating that there was no malice, but illness.

Temporary Mental Disorder and Addictions

A chronic illness is not always required. We defend cases of "outburst or obfuscation" or temporary mental disorders caused by acute consumption of toxins (withdrawal syndrome or full intoxication). The key for the exemption (acquittal) or incomplete exemption (drastic reduction of sentence) to apply is to prove the intensity of the impairment at the exact moment of the events. This requires detailed technical retrospective forensic psychopathology reports.

The Exemption of Insuperable Fear

Article 20.6 of the Criminal Code exempts anyone who acts driven by an "insuperable fear". It is a common defense in cases of domestic violence or in extreme situations where the accused reacts defensively to a real or imagined threat perceived as real. Unlike self-defense, the act is not justified here, but the author is "excused" because, given their situation of psychological terror, other conduct could not be demanded of them ("non-demandability of other conduct").

Acquittal is Not Freedom: Security Measures

It is vital to be honest with the client and their family. Achieving a complete exemption due to mental insanity entails criminal acquittal, but almost invariably implies the imposition of a security measure of internment in a psychiatric penitentiary center. The duration of this measure cannot exceed that of the prison sentence that would have corresponded, but its execution is different. Our defense extends to the execution phase, fighting for outpatient treatments or internments in external civil centers, much more suitable for therapeutic recovery than psychiatric prison.