Sanity at the Time of the Act
In Ohio, a criminal defendant is found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) if they prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that at the time of the commission of the offense, the person did not know, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, the wrongfulness of their acts.
To clarify, only the defense may enter a plea of NGRI. In order to make this sanity determination, the court will order an evaluation and the Forensic Evaluation Center will complete it. For Cuyahoga County, this center is the Cuyahoga County Court Psychiatric Clinic. By the same token, for Summit, Portage, Geauga, Stark, and Medina Counties, this center is the Psycho-Diagnostic Clinic. A licensed psychologist or psychiatrist must conduct the sanity evaluation. Either the prosecution or defense may also obtain their own sanity evaluation from an expert of their choosing.
A written report will be provided to the court, including, but not limited to the following information:
- A review of collateral information
- Relevant past history
- Account of the alleged offense
- Mental state at the time of the offense
There are explicitly two prongs to the sanity opinion:
- Does the defendant have a qualifying mental condition?
- Severe mental defect
- Severe mental disease
- Did they know the wrongfulness of their behavior at the time of the offense?
If the court, as a result, determines the defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity, the next step is to determine whether the individual is subject to hospitalization. If so, the NGRI acquittee may be institutionalized with an appropriate level of security, or be granted conditional release. It must be remembered that this evaluation must be completed by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist.
Our Jones-Wood Psychological Associates, Inc. clinicians that have the experience and training to conduct these evaluations include:
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