For the second time in less than two months, security was breached at Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Michigan.
Though the methods differed in each incident, both seem to involve a common theme: Mental illness. Statements by close family members support that evidence.
Post arrest comments by Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyers in both cases strongly hint that the issue of Legal Insanity will be in play in both criminal trials.
It almost goes without saying that a criminal defense lawyer should explore the defense of Legal Insanity, where the criminal defendant displays psychotic behavior. Where the elements of the crime committed also require proof of specific intent, however, the Defense Team may have a formula for acquittal.
On many levels, though, the defense of legal insanity is a steep mountain to climb. First, societal attitudes toward mental illness and the Defense of Legal Insanity are filled with skepticism and even cynicism. Second, Lawmakers have reacted to those attitudes by raising the bar and imposing formidable obstacles. For example, the Michigan Legislature tinkered with the 400 year old principle of American Criminal Procedure which required the Prosecutor to prove his allegations 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. Lawmakers in Lansing, Michigan simply moved the goalpost by shifting the burden of proof to the Criminal Defendant, when raising the Defense of Legal Insanity.
Third - the law forbids the Defense Lawyer from informing the Jury that an acquittal on grounds of Legal Insanity will not result in the Criminal Defendant walking out of the Courtroom a free man. Since many cases involving the Defense of Legal Insanity include heinous crimes and homicides - the lack of information about post-trial disposition raises the danger that the jury will reject the Defense on purely emotional grounds.
Finally - the most daunting hurdle facing the Criminal Defense Lawyer is often the seriously mentally ill client himself. That is because a hallmark of the disease is lack of insight. That blind-spot commonly hampers the Defendant's ability to participate in his own defense. To counter that deficit, the Defense Lawyer's team must include sympathetic family members and highly trained mental health professionals.
Because in the end, often the only way to answer the ill-informed Jury's concerns is to convince them that the Defendant is not the cause of the incident - the cause of the incident is the mental illness.
Airport security breach suspect suffers mental problems, family says, The Detroit News, February 10, 2010
