Edward Douglass White, Nobles v. Georgia — Opinion of the Court
“ There is no question raised that the statutes of Georgia do not afford adequate means for trying by court and jury any question made as to the insanity of the accused at the time of the commission of a crime. ”
Edward Douglass White, Nobles v. Georgia — Opinion of the Court
“ It is agreed that at common law an insane person was not to suffer punishment. The question here is, what, after conviction and sentence, was the method by which the existence of insanity in the convict was to be ascertained, when a suggestion of such insanity has made. ”
Edward Douglass White, Nobles v. Georgia — Opinion of the Court
“ It was therefore a subject within the control of the state of Georgia. Because we have confined our opinion exclusively to the question before us (that is, the right arising on a suggestion of insanity after sentence) , we must not be understood as implying that a different rule would prevail after verdict, and up to and including sentence, or as passing upon the question whether, under the fourteenth amendment, a state is without power to relegate the decision of a question of insanity, when raised before conviction, to such apt and special tribunal as the law might deem best. ”
