Appellate Watch Blog , Criminal Law Blog
New Jersey Supreme Court Alters Decades-Long Approach To Insanity Defense In Criminal Cases
September 24, 2013 | by Matheu NunnOn September 9, 2013, the Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed an Appellate Division decision in State v. Handy authored by the Hon. Jack M. Sabatino, J.A.D., which focused on a not-so-frequent scenario facing trial courts in criminal cases – the rare circumstance where a criminal defendant has both a substantive defense (like self-defense, for example) to a criminal prosecution and grounds to claim not guilty by reason of insanity.