No. HB 1505
Filed under Criminal Justice.
Prosecution of Defendants; Specifies that it is defense to prosecution under any law that defendant, as result of mental disease or defect, lacked culpable mental state required as element of crime charged; specifies that mental disease or defect is not otherwise defense to prosecution under any law; removes affirmative defense to criminal prosecution that, at time of commission of acts constituting offense, defendant was insane; revises mitigating circumstance under which departure from lowest permissible sentence is reasonably justified; authorizes incorporation into convicted defendant's criminal sentence certain specialized treatment for mental health disease or defects; specifies that certain provisions do not prevent sentencing court from considering defendant's mental disease or defect when imposing sentence within permissible sentencing range.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDThe bill eliminates the traditional insanity defense, replacing it with a narrower rule that mental illness only excuses a crime if it negates the specific mental state required for that offense. This shifts the legal standard for how mental illness is considered during criminal trials.
It requires forensic experts to administer a specific, clinically recognized test to detect malingering when evaluating a defendant's competence to stand trial. The results of this instrument must be included in the expert's official report to the court.
The bill allows courts to incorporate specialized mental health treatment into a criminal sentence, but explicitly forbids using that treatment as a reason to depart from the lowest permissible sentence. It also removes a specific mitigating circumstance related to mental disorders from the sentencing guidelines.
AIRemoves the existing affirmative defense of insanity and replaces it with a defense based on lacking the specific mental state required for the crime.
AIRequires examining experts to administer a clinically recognized instrument to determine if a defendant is malingering and include the results in their report.
AIPermits specialized treatment for mental disease or defect to be incorporated into a criminal sentence, provided it does not justify a sentence departure.
AIDeletes the provision that allowed a defendant's need for specialized treatment for a mental disorder to justify a departure from the lowest permissible sentence.