i have a question. i live in california. Now is my man was looking at 2nd degree muder but its more of a voluntary manslaughter, if he plea guilty by momantary insanity, would he get a certain amount of time to a instiute and get out when they feel hes better or when he gets out go staright to prison? is it better to plead that way or what? some say no, some say yes. any info. please? ktc

It's very, very, very hard to win on the basis of insanity. There are some real sick puppies by normal standards who we all would definitely call crazy who are not considered crazy by the standards the law uses. In fact, there are people who are without doubt diagnosed as mentally ill who can't get by on that one. If a person does manage to get judged mentally ill enough to go to an institution for the mentally ill, they usually still serve quite a sentence.

Temporary insanity is extremely hard to win on, too, and that doesn't get you put in a mental hospital because it means you went "insane" for just a very short period of time while you committed the crime, but didn't stay that way------hence, "temporary".

yeah i know they had temp. insanity in cali, but a public defender said they cant plea to that no more, even though i think thats what my man had. oh well, we'll see what happeneds. ktc