CARSON CITY -- Criminal defense attorneys said Tuesday they're opposed to a bill reinstating a "guilty but mentally ill" verdict in Nevada law, a response to the case of Michael Kane, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2004 for the 2001 killing of his friend.
Kane's lawyer and the head of a state facility where he has been held now say he's fit to re-enter society.
Advertisement
During an Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing, Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice and the public defender offices in Clark and Washoe counties opposed Assembly Bill 193, saying that without amendments it would deprive the mentally ill of proper treatment.
Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, presented the bill on behalf of an interim committee that studied probation, pardons and parole issues. Horne, a criminal defense attorney, said it's good public policy to give a jury the "guilty but mentally ill" option.
Nevada had a "not guilty by reason of insanity" plea until 1995, when lawmakers replaced it with a "guilty but mentally ill" defense. That in turn was scrapped by legislators in 2003, in line with a Nevada Supreme Court ruling that said not allowing an insanity defense was unconstitutional.
