We know that when a person is being accused of committing a criminal act, it is the state’s obligation to prove all the elements of the crime existed. The elements of the crime are stated in the Florida statutes of that specific offense. In the courts of Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Miami, and South Florida in general, the state has the burden of proving that the defendant was guilty.
One of the elements of a crime is what it’s called mens rea. It refers to the guilty mind, or the intent the person had to commit the offense. This is when the defense of insanity comes in. In Florida, insanity is a defense that alleges the criminal, due to a mental illness or retardation, didn’t have the capacity of knowing the wrongfulness of his or her actions at that time.
It is important to have an experienced criminal defense attorney when dealing with an insanity defense in South Florida. If you think that you or someone you know is being charged with a crime and that at the time of that crime he or she may have been, according to Florida’s rule, “legally insane” you should call a South Florida criminal defense attorney now.