Guido was married to a boxer
who was occasionally abusive. She asked for a divorce but he threatened
her. Despondent, Guido got a gun and considered suicide. But instead she
shot her husband multiple times while he was sleeping.
Guido was arrested and charged
with first-degree murder. She
confessed, but pled not guilty by reason of insanity.
Guido was interviewed by
some psychiatrists hired by her attorneys.
The psychiatrists originally
found that Guido was legally sane, but after talking to the defense
attorney about the legal definition of insanity, they changed their conclusions.
Under the common-law, an insanity defense requires that the defendant suffer
from a 'disease of the mind', which the psychiatrists assumed did not
include 'anxiety neurosis'. After being reassured by the defense
attorney that it did, they changed their opinions.
At Trial, the prosecutor found
out that the psychiatrists had changed their report, and accused them of
faking their results.
The Trial Court found Guido
guilty of first-degree murder. She
appealed.
Guido argued that the
prosecutor's statements unfairly biased the jury.
The New Jersey Supreme Court
overturned the conviction and remanded for a new trial.
The New Jersey Supreme Court
found that Guido did not commit fraud when her defense attorney changed
the psychiatrists' understanding of the legal definition of insanity.
The Court noted that there
is no good legal definition of what is meant by a 'disease of the mind.'
The Court found that the
prosecutor's accusations unfairly biased the jury.
Different jurisdictions define
the term 'disease of the mind' differently.
For example, McDonald v.
United States (312 F.2d 847 (1962))
defined a 'disease of the mind' as "any abnormal condition of the
mind which substantially affects mental of emotional processes and
substantially impairs behavioral controls."
