State v. Anderson
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of one count of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. The court of appeals reversed the judgment, concluding that the circuit court erred in instructing the jury that a “temporary mental state which is brought into existence by the voluntary taking of drugs or alcohol does not constitute a mental defect.” Both parties argued that the jury instruction was erroneous: Defendant argued that the instruction was erroneous because it failed to distinguish between prescription medication and illegal drugs, and the State argued that the instruction was erroneous because Defendant’s insanity defense was premised on his reaction to the mixture of alcohol and his prescription medication, and the instruction used the wrong conjunction by referring to drugs OR alcohol. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the circuit court’s jury instruction was an accurate statement of the law.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.