Stanley Forman Reed

“ Ever since our ancestral common law emerged out of the darkness of its early barbaric days, it has been a postulate of Western civilization that the taking of life by the hand of an insane person is not murder. ”

“ But the nature and operation of the mind are so elusive to the grasp of the understanding that the basis for formulating standards of criminal responsibility and the means for determining whether those standards are satisfied in a particular case have greatly troubled law and medicine for more than a century. ”

“ Although the trial judge testified that defense counsel made no such request, petitioner here states that the trial court refused to appoint a psychiatrist to make a pretrial examination. We cannot say that the State has that duty by constitutional mandate. See McGarty v. O'Brien, 1 Cir., 188 F.2d 151, 155. As we have shown, the issue of petitioner's sanity was heard by the trial court. Psychiatrists testified. That suffices.
Petitioner's argument that an insane man may not be executed proceeds on the assumption that he has been found to be insane. ”

“ In its opinion denying the subsequent petition for a writ of habeas corpus the Pennsylvania court held that ' (w) hether this judgment was entered on September 21, 1948, or on February 4, 1949, is unimportant in these proceedings.' Commonwealth ex rel. Smith v. Ashe, 364 Pa. 93, at page 112, 71 A.2d 107, at page 116.↑ 'When counsel for the relator entered a plea of guilty to the indictment, that plea admitted to prisoner's sanity because no insane person can be guilty of murder. ”