Liability Question in Support of a Short Story

Factual Questions
1

I’m writing a story which involves a man who suffers from retrograde amnesia. He wakes up one day and can’t remember any of his life up to that point.

This sort of a problem apparently really exists, although it is rare. There is a man who calls himself Benjaman Kyle, he was found behind a dumpster in Georgia with lumps on his head and couldn’t remember his life up to that point.

If it could be demonstrated that someone in this situation committed a serious crime, could he be prosecuted and convicted?

Thanks for your advice.

2

IANA lawyer

Sure. If his annesia were the result of a brain tumor he might be able to use diminished capacity as a defense. But there are plenty of criminals prosecuted for crimes they don’t remember. They could have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or prolific criminals might just forget every crime they commit. I’d guess a very large percentage have forgotten all the details of crimes they committed when they are being prosecuted.

3

Lots of people accused of a crime claim to have amnesia (this PDF says 25-45% of convicted murderers). Many of them are convicted anyway, presumably because the court doesn’t believe them. So it’s certainly the case that someone who presents symptoms of amnesia can be (and has been) convicted.

4

(Emphasis mine.)

So, suppose the court did in fact believe them. Would they still be convicted?

5

If the evidence is placed before the jury, and the jury believes it, then they can acquit.

The evidence would have to be pretty strong, though; I’d suspect most juries would be suspicious.

6

This is not quite the same thing. But there was at least one case where a person was found by psychiatrists to have multiple personalities, and the “main” personality had no record of the personality who killed. This guy–he was a kid at the time, I think 16 or so, but tried as an adult–was convicted, but then the conviction was overturned.

However, instead of letting him free, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital. I think this may have been a case where what the jury wanted was a “guilty, but insane” verdict instead of “not guilty by reason of insanity.”

The funny thing is that from what I remember, there was a “Kyle” in this guy’s name also.

I am a bit fuzzy on the details. Probably some kind of amnesia.