Deborah Denno comments to the New York Times on the insanity defense for Levi Aron accused of kidnapping, killing and dismembering an 8-year-old Brooklyn boy, Leiby Kletzky.
“It is extremely rare that lawyers use an insanity defense,” said Deborah W. Denno, a professor at Fordham University’s law school. “Less than 1 percent are filed. And when they are, they are rarely granted.” Ms. Denno said that recent statistics showed that an insanity defense was successful only one-quarter of the time that it was employed in felony cases nationwide.
Read the entire New York Times story.