Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 8/23/2010

Commonwealth v. Berry

Citations

457 Mass. 602
931 N.E.2d 972
2010 Mass. LEXIS 595

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

holding when jury could have believed any alcohol that exacerbated defendant’s mental illness would result in forfeiture of insanity defense, even if defendant’s mental disease or defect caused defendant’s loss of substantial capacity, was reversible error
holding when jury could have believed any alcohol that exacerbated defendant’s mental illness would result in forfeiture of insanity defense, even if defendant’s mental disease or defect caused defendant’s loss of substantial capacity, was reversible error
“a defense of lack of criminal responsibility is not defeated where the defendant also consumed alcohol or drugs, as long as the mental disease or defect was the cause of the lack of criminal responsibility”
expert testimony is not required to raise insanity defense

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Marshall, Spina, Cowin, Botsford, Gants

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Cited by

17 cases in this archive cite this case.

Other cases with this name

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.