Editing Sleepwalking (section)

==Sleepwalking as a legal defense<span class="anchor" id="Homicidal sleepwalking"></span>==
<!-- The redirect [[Homicidal sleepwalking]] points here. If this anchor is renamed or removed, please update the redirect. -->
{{More citations needed|section|date=February 2013}}

As sleepwalking behaviours occur without volition, sleepwalking can be used as a legal defense, as a form of [[Automatism (law)|legal automatism]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Popat |first1=S |last2=Winslade |first2=W |title=While You Were Sleepwalking: Science and Neurobiology of Sleep Disorders & the Enigma of Legal Responsibility of Violence During Parasomnia. |journal=Neuroethics |date=2015 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=203–214 |doi=10.1007/s12152-015-9229-4 |pmid=26203309 |pmc=4506454}}</ref> An individual can be accused of non-insane or insane automatism.{{Where|date=January 2022}} The first is used as a defense for temporary insanity or involuntary conduct, resulting in acquittal. The latter results in a "special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity."<ref name="Canadian Legal Information Institute">[[Canadian Legal Information Institute]]. [https://canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1992/1992canlii78/1992canlii78.html ''R v. Parks'']. 1992.</ref> This verdict of insanity can result in a court order to attend a mental institution.<ref name="Lederman">Lederman, Eliezer. "Non-Insane and Insane Automatism: Reducing the Significance of a Problematic Distinction." ''The [[International and Comparative Law Quarterly]]'' 34.4 (1985): 819.</ref>

In the 1963 case ''[[Bratty v A-G for Northern Ireland]]'', [[John Morris, Baron Morris of Borth-y-Gest|Lord Morris]] stated, "Each set of facts must require a careful examination of its own circumstances, but if by way of taking an illustration it were considered possible for a person to walk in his sleep and to commit a violent crime while genuinely unconscious, then such a person would not be criminally liable for that act."<ref name="Mackay">{{cite journal |last1=Mackay |first1=Irene |year=1992 |title=The Sleepwalker is Not Insane |journal=The Modern Law Review |volume=55 |issue=5 |pages=715–716 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2230.1992.tb02845.x}}</ref> While the veracity of the cases are disputed,{{By whom|date=January 2022}} there have been acts of [[homicide]] where the prime suspect may have committed the act while sleepwalking.

Alternative explanations to homicidal or violent sleepwalking include [[malingering]], drug-induced amnesia, and other disorders in which sleep-related violence may occur, such as [[REM Sleep Behavior Disorder]], [[fugue state]]s, and episodic wandering.<ref name="Culebras">{{Cite book|last=Culebras|first=A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WvprAAAAMAAJ|title=Clinical Handbook of Sleep Disorders|date=1996|pages=317–319|publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann|location= Massachusetts, MA, USA|isbn=978-0-7506-9644-9|oclc=34932724|language=en}}</ref>

=== Historical cases ===
[[File:1846 Tirrell Bickford BostonTragedy NationalPoliceGazette.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Albert Tirrell]] was acquitted of the murder of Maria Bickford in 1846, under a defense that he was sleepwalking. (National Police Gazette, 1846)]]
* 1846, [[Albert Tirrell]] used sleepwalking as a defense against charges of murdering Maria Bickford, a prostitute living in a Boston brothel.
* 1961, Sergeant Willis Boshears confessed to strangling a local woman named Jean Constable in the early hours on New Years Day 1961, but claimed that he was asleep and only woke to realize what he had done. He pled not guilty on the basis of being asleep at the time he committed the offence and was acquitted.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shearer|first=Lloyd|date=October 14, 1961|title=He killed in his sleep|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19611014&id=zbgxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=quUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4313,3428608 |newspaper=Ottawa Citizen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Donnelley |first=Paul |title=Essex Murders |publisher=Wharncliffe Books |year=2000 |language=en}}</ref>
* In 1981, Steven Steinberg of [[Scottsdale, Arizona|Scottsdale]], [[Arizona]] was accused of killing his wife and acquitted on the grounds of temporary insanity.
* 1991, ''[[R v Burgess]]'': Burgess was accused of hitting his girlfriend on the head with a wine bottle and then a video tape recorder. He was found not guilty at [[Bristol Crown Court]], by reason of ''insane automatism''.<ref name="RvBurgess">{{cite book |veditors=Heaton-Armstrong A, Shepherd E, Wolchover D |title=Analysing Witness Testimony: Psychological, Investigative and Evidential Perspectives: A Guide for Legal Practitioners and Other Professionals |date=2002 |publisher=[[Blackstone Press]] |isbn= 978-1-85431-731-5 }}</ref>
* 1992, ''[[R. v. Parks]]'': Parks was accused of killing his mother-in-law and attempting to kill his father-in-law. He was acquitted by the [[Supreme Court of Canada]].<ref name="Broughton 1994">Broughton ''et al.'' Homicidal Somnambulism: A Case Report. ''Sleep'' (1994); 17(3):253-64</ref>
* 1994, ''Pennsylvania v. Ricksgers'': Ricksgers was accused of killing his wife. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Lyon |first=Lindsey |date=8 May 2009 |title=7 Criminal Cases That Invoked the 'Sleepwalking Defense' |url=https://health.usnews.com/articles/health/sleep/2009/05/08/7-criminal-cases-that-invoked-the-sleepwalking-defense.html |website=[[US News & World Report]]}}</ref>
* 1999, ''Arizona v. Falater'': Scott Falater, of [[Phoenix, Arizona]], was accused of killing his wife. The court concluded that the murder was too complex to be committed while sleepwalking. Falater was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life with no possibility of parole.
* 2001, ''California v. Reitz'': Stephen Reitz killed his lover, Eva Weinfurtner. He told police he had no recollection of the attack but he had "flashbacks" of believing he was in a scuffle with a male intruder. His parents testified in court that he had been a sleepwalker from childhood. The court convicted Reitz of first-degree murder in 2004.<ref name=":0" />
* In 2001, Antonio Nieto murdered his wife and mother-in-law and attempted to murder his daughter and son, before being disarmed. Nieto claimed to have been asleep during the attack and dreaming that he was defending himself against aggressive ostriches. However, his children stated that he had recognized them and had told his son to not turn on the lights because their mother (gravely injured already) was sleeping. In 2007, Nieto was sentenced to 10 years internment in a psychiatric hospital and ordered to pay 171,100 euros as compensation to the victims.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-02-21 |title=Acuerdan internar 10 años al hombre que mató a su mujer y su suegra creyéndolas avestruces |trans-title=They agreed to intern the man who killed his wife and mother-in-law for 10 years, believing them to be ostriches |url=https://www.diariosur.es/20070221/malaga/acuerdan-internar-anos-hombre_200702211843.html?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2F |access-date=2023-05-29 |website=Diario Sur |language=es-ES}}</ref>
* Jules Lowe confessed to causing the death of his father Edward in 2004, but did not remember committing the act. Jules used [[automatism (law)|automatism]] as his defense, and was found not guilty by reason of insanity and [[at Her Majesty's pleasure|detained indefinitely]] in a secure hospital.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 March 2005 |title='Sleepwalker' accused of murder |publisher=[[BBC News Online]] |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/4337309.stm}}</ref> He was released after ten months.
* Brian Thomas was accused of killing his wife in 2008 while dreaming that he was fighting off intruders.<ref name="de Bruxelles">{{Cite news |work=[[The Times]]|title=Sleepwalker Brian Thomas admits killing wife while fighting intruders in nightmare |location=London|date=18 November 2009 |url=https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6920860.ece |last1=de Bruxelles|first1=Simon|access-date=2009-12-26}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> He was freed in 2009 by a judge, who found him not guilty of murder.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2009-11-20 |title=Camper van 'dream killer' Brian Thomas freed by judge |newspaper=[[BBC News Online]] |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8370237.stm |access-date=2016-05-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2009-11-21|title=Man who killed his wife while sleeping goes free|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/man-who-killed-his-wife-while-sleeping-goes-free-1824945.html|access-date=2016-05-30|website=The Independent|language=en-GB}}</ref>