10-31-2015, 09:35 AM
Mental Illness Defense for Adacia Chambers
Yesterday, an EMT who assisted Adacia Chambers after the crash told a reporter that Chambers immediately told him that she was trying to kill herself.
She told the police the same thing several times and had no affect during her interviews. She has a documented history of suicide attempts and mental illness.
LINK: http://fox6now.com/2015/10/28/i-was-tryi...su-parade/
In this case, I believe mental illness was genuinely a factor -- based on her previous suicide attempts, her previous hospitalizations, and the witness's statement.
But it will be difficult, in my opinion, for her defense attorney to successfully use a criminal insanity defense because the attorney would have to demonstrate that she didn't know what she was doing, or she didn't know what she was doing was wrong. That's the criteria to meet the legal definition of "insanity".
I think a jury would have a hard time believing, suicidal or not, that she didn't know that she was driving into a crowd of people and that it could cause death and injury to others. In that regard, I think it might slightly help Chambers' attorney if the tox screen comes back positive for drugs and/or alcohol. I don't know when those tox reports will be available/released.
These are the four fatal victims of the crash.
![[Image: osuparadevictims.jpg?w=400&h=225&crop=1]](https://localtvkfor.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/osuparadevictims.jpg?w=400&h=225&crop=1)
RIP.
Yesterday, an EMT who assisted Adacia Chambers after the crash told a reporter that Chambers immediately told him that she was trying to kill herself.
She told the police the same thing several times and had no affect during her interviews. She has a documented history of suicide attempts and mental illness.
LINK: http://fox6now.com/2015/10/28/i-was-tryi...su-parade/
In this case, I believe mental illness was genuinely a factor -- based on her previous suicide attempts, her previous hospitalizations, and the witness's statement.
But it will be difficult, in my opinion, for her defense attorney to successfully use a criminal insanity defense because the attorney would have to demonstrate that she didn't know what she was doing, or she didn't know what she was doing was wrong. That's the criteria to meet the legal definition of "insanity".
I think a jury would have a hard time believing, suicidal or not, that she didn't know that she was driving into a crowd of people and that it could cause death and injury to others. In that regard, I think it might slightly help Chambers' attorney if the tox screen comes back positive for drugs and/or alcohol. I don't know when those tox reports will be available/released.
These are the four fatal victims of the crash.
RIP.