Criminal Defense Paper

Criminal Defense Paper

Mary Jones

CJA/305

October 2, 2016

Jerri Green

Criminal Defense Paper

Two forms of legal defense are; justifications, in which the defendant admits to committing the act in question but claims it was necessary in order to avoid some greater evil, and excuses, in which the defendant claims that some personal condition or circumstance at the time of the act was such that he or she should not be held accountable under the criminal law (Schmalleger & Hall, 2014). This paper will take two cases; The State of Florida v. George Zimmerman and The State of Iowa v. Cody Metzker-Madsen and explain the nature and types of defenses used and what evidence was used to demonstrate the defense, describe how justification and excuse play a role in the cases and describe the outcome of each case.

State of Iowa v. Cody Metzker-Madsen

        In this case, the defendant is charged with Murder and enters a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Cody was seventeen years old at the time and killed his five-year-old foster brother while the two were playing outdoors at the home of their foster family. Cody stated that he was in his own world and that he believed the boy was a goblin commander that he needed to kill. Judge Kilnoski relied on opinions from a forensic psychologist, the defendant’s actions while being interviewed by Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, as well as her own observations of the defendant during the trial. Judge Kilnoski stated at the ruling “He was animated in describing his battle against the goblin, he became testy when confronted with his lies and inconsistencies. However, it is not clear he appreciates, even now, the consequences of his actions” (Rodgers, 2014).

        Defense excuses such as insanity say that although the defendant committed a crime he is not considered responsible. In the case of Cody, due to his lack of emotion and understanding for what he had done, the judge decided he was mentally insane during the criminal act of murder that he was charged with. The one thing that all defense excuses including insanity, duress, age, intoxication, entrapment, and mistake have in common are that the defendants are not morally blameworthy and excused from criminal liability (Lippman, 2013).

        On November 7, 2014, eighteen-year-old Cody Metzker-Madsen was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He is now in the custody of the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, a medium security prison facility. He will likely remain there for many years, if not the rest of his life. In Iowa because of his age, if he had been found guilty of murder he would have been released eventually but with the insanity plea there is the chance that he may never get released.

State of Florida v. George Zimmerman