Biyad v. Commonwealth
Annotate this CaseAppellant was convicted of four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for the murders of his four children and the attempted murder of his wife. Appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. At the trial, Appellant presented an insanity defense supported by expert testimony, and the Commonwealth provided an expert rebuttal witness. Appellant appealed, claiming that once he presented evidence that he was insane, the burden of disproving his insanity defense shifted to the Commonwealth, and because the Commonwealth did not meet this burden, the trial court erred in convicting him. The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant's convictions, holding that Appellant's introduction of evidence of mental illness sufficient to raise the issue of insanity as a defense did not require the Commonwealth to then disprove mental illness, and therefore, the burden of proving insanity rested on Appellant.
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