Berry v. State
Annotate this CaseDefendant was charged with felony attempted murder. After a bench trial, the trial court rejected Defendant's insanity defense, finding that Defendant's behavior was the result of his voluntary abuse of alcohol. The trial court then found Berry guilty as charged. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that Defendant suffered from "settled insanity," a mental disease or defect caused by Defendant's prolonged and chronic abuse of alcohol, which rendered him unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct. The Supreme Court granted transfer and affirmed the trial court, holding (1) there was credible expert testimony that Defendant's behavior was caused by the voluntary abuse of alcohol and not a mental disease or defect as defined in Indiana's insanity statute; and (2) accordingly, under the applicable standard of review, the trial court properly rejected Defendant's insanity defense.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.