Elsie v. Jones v. United States

BASTIAN, Circuit Judge

(concurring in part and dissenting in part).

I concur in the opinion of Judge WRIGHT in its holding that the District Court did not err in refusing to grant appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal by reason of insanity. On the issue of insanity, the testimony of the psychiatrists at the trial of this case was in conflict as to the question of whether or not, at the time she committed the crime charged against her, appellant was suffering from a mental disease. In such circumstances, this issue was properly resolvable only by the jury and, in the instant case, the jury resolved it against appellant, as indeed they were entitled to do under our system of-criminal jurisprudence.

My dissent is directed toward the majority’s holding appellant’s written confession inadmissible. While I recognize that the question is a close one, I do not think Rule 5(a) was violated here.

I would affirm the judgment of the District Court.