The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 11: Excuse Me!
Excuse pg 12: Insanity
So Provocation rarely works any more; and when it does, it’s not even a complete defense (again, it’s only available in murder cases, and only reduces the charge to manslaughter).
INSANITY, on the other hand, is a complete defe-
An angry woman interrupts, offended
OFFENDED WOMAN
Stop right there. That’s a very insensitive term. I prefer you say “having a psychiatric illness or emotional disability.”
No, “Insanity” is actually the right word to use. It’s not a medical term or one of the ever-changing PC euphemisms for mental disorder.
Average Joe talking head
AVERAGE JOE
This may sound crazy, but the term “insanity” is not a psychiatric diagnosis, but a legal conclusion. It’s determined not by doctors, but by jurors.
I thought provocation was available in assault cases? I remember Buzz Aldrin pleading provocation when he punched that conspiracy theorist…
And it probably worked because, let’s face it, it was BUZZ ALDRIN the astronaut and national hero! Probably wouldn’t have worked for anyone else.
This is likely one of those things that varies from state to state.
I assure you that Buzz Aldrin does not vary from state to state.
No he does not. [1] [2]
Actually, my understanding is that Buzz Aldrin claimed self defense, and wasn’t charged.
Watch the whole video sometime- not the 20 second version. Sibrel literally chases Aldrin out of a hotel room, down an elevator, through a hotel lobby, to the street, back up the hotel steps to the lobby and then gets punched. After getting in his face and yelling multiple times, then hitting Aldrin a few times with a bible he was carrying.
Perhaps the best case I’ve heard for provocation was the man who caught his ranch hand in the act of raping his 5 year old daughter. He picked up a gardening tool and bludgeoned the man to death.
There was no indictment, because the father called 911 immediately after the rapist was fatally injured, and there’s some question of whether it was defense of a third party since he caught the guy red-handed. But jeez…it’s hard to imagine a more rock-solid case for a provocation defense.