ATLANTA, GA — Garland, Samuel & Loeb, P.C.’s partner, Attorney Kristen Novay and her co-counsel Robert Rubin successfully stopped the State's attempt to potentially gut Georgia’s Insanity Defense in the pivotal case of State v. Wierson. Novay argued before the Georgia Supreme Court in March and, in a decision with far-reaching implications for the rights of mentally ill defendants, the Court rejected the prosecution’s attempt to carve out a new exception to Georgia’s longstanding insanity defense.
Wierson was charged with vehicular homicide after fatal car accident. Prior to trial, both the court’s and the defense’s experts concluded that Wierson lacked the mental capacity to distinguish right from wrong and was under a delusional compulsion at the time of the accident. The State argued that Defendant Wierson’s alleged failure to take one of four prescribed medications should render her criminally responsible for her psychotic break, effectively undermining the protections afforded to mentally ill individuals under Georgia law.
Attorney Novay, representing the defense, argued that such an exception would not only contradict the letter and spirit of the law but would also set a dangerous precedent, potentially eradicating the insanity defense for those most in need of medical intervention and legal protection. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed, joining Hawaii and Massachusetts in rejecting this prosecution-created exception.
The Court further overruled the problematic decision of Bailey v. State (1982), which seemingly limited the insanity defense if the defendant failed to follow his doctor’s orders. The Court’s Wierson decision ensures that mentally ill defendants who meet the statutory requirements for insanity cannot be categorically excluded from asserting the defense based on partial non-compliance with treatment.
