By Raul Hernandez
Contrary to popular belief, the insanity defense is used in fewer than 1 percent of all cases and only has about a 26 percent success rate. In 90 percent of the successful claims, the defendants had been previously diagnosed with mental illness, according to authorities
In 2012, I covered the case of a 33-year-old man in Ventura County, California who was found sane and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Calvin Sharp stabbed a 6-year-old boy to death with a meat cleaver and injured two others in 2007.
Sharp, 33, stabbed Sev’n Molina, the boy’s mother, Sandra Ruiz, and neighbor Diane Cox on Aug. 12, 2007, in Newbury Park.
Sharp, a former taxi driver, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in March 2009.
Sharp’s lawyer Todd Howeth of the Public Defender’s Office argued in court that the evidence that Sharp is insane is overwhelming, including the testimony of six mental health experts. Two of them, court-appointed psychologists, concluded Sharp is a paranoid schizophrenic.
Howeth had told the judge who heard the case that dozens of people described Sharp as a kind and gentle person, yet he committed the crimes against people he loved.
Prosecutor Maeve Fox said at trial that Sharp was in a marijuana-induced and “fluctuating” psychosis. She described him as being troubled man who is faking mental illness.
Sharp was upset because Ruiz had broken off a romantic relationship about six months before the attack and was in a jealous rage because she was dating another man, Fox told the judge during trial.
Click here to read the Sharp article: Ventura County Star Newspaper
The use of the insanity plea in the criminal justice system remains a complex and controversial issue.
Here Frontline examines the 1994 case of took a college class hostage with a high-powered rifle and demanded to speak to the president, the governor, and the Supreme Court
That Ralph Tortorici was mentally ill was apparent to everyone, according to the Frontline story.