7 Criminal Cases That Invoked the 'Sleepwalking Defense'

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My brother lived next door to Scott Falater. When Scott was drowning his wife in the backyard pool, my brother heard the commotion but thought someone was just playing and splashing in the pool. Most people, if not all, and that includes Falater, wake up when loud noises occur or when something is disturbing their sleep pattern. Such as what happened when Falater's wife was fighting very hard to stay alive. The sleepwalking defense is a crock of crap. He knew full well what he was doing and he knew it was wrong. Therefor, he is guilty. Any reasonable person knows that this defense excuse does not justify a murder. Let him rot...

Jean of AZ 2:49PM February 03, 2013

its not a dissorder they r a wake when they commit the crime so unless they r use to doing crimes its not possible sorry

candy of MA 8:28AM September 20, 2012

they only do what they r used to doing at home so unless they r use to doing a crime while awake then iyts not possible for them to do this............

corrie hull of MA 8:24AM September 20, 2012

thats messed i dont belive it it think they were awake im studying the crmial mind and i think they knew what they were doing

corrie hull of MA 8:22AM September 20, 2012

Lock yourself up with a combination of actions which you can reliably perform only during full consciousness, then you can stay home during the sleep walking cycle - is it possible to find such set of actions and implement it before sleeping.. Or may be try a totem(inception) mechanism to make sure you're in real world before going out?

Vijay of PA 7:27PM May 14, 2011

My brother is my hero but while he was asleep he committed a crime while asleep he found out that he hurt his little girl and went to seek help knowing it was a crime but was in fear that he would do it again. Now he sits behind bars. In a Texas prison. He did not have proper council do to his crime they through him under the bus. He needs help with an appeal. His charges and the case has lots of holes but he tells me that his relationship with his daughter is most important. She is upset because she knows her dad was asleep. And believes they charged him with a first degree crime instead of a second degree crime only she knows what happened. My brother is not a bad person just has a disorder he never new about. Do you know anyone that can HELP!

Tina-Marie Sonesen of WY 7:06PM September 08, 2010

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weight loss foods list of 12:52AM July 01, 2010

One of my friends sleep walks... she walked out of her house onto the road and was almost fun over by a car!!! I think people who sleep walk need to take some kind of medication so the don't hurt thrmselves or others. some medication that will help them sleep! :(

anonomous of MI 12:48AM June 13, 2010

I conduct sleep disorder studies for sleep medicine doctors and witnessing patients sleepwalking or having night terrors during sleep is not unusual. If anyone, young adults and up are experiencing unusual behavior during sleep (i.e. sleep walking), I would highly recommend having a sleep study done to rule out any underlining causes. I myself being a sleepwalker and having nocturnal panic attacks found a sleep study to very informative and was able to take the necessary steps to make sleep more conducive. Sleep walking is considered a parasomnia and depending on the cause could be considered a REM Behavior Disorder. When I read "insanity" instead of what I know is a medical disorder it makes me roll my eyes to the uneducated in sleep medicine.

Chelsa of UT 12:27AM May 17, 2010

I've decided to use this as a focus for my independent study task in legal. What makes me so curious is how these sleepwalkers know what their surroundings are like. And where to go/what to do when clearly, their mind is not linked to actions during sleep. Also... although experts may be able to prove whether a person has had a sleepwalking history, how can they prove that the person was sleepwalking at the time of the murder/rape/crime? It seems so far-fetched. And yet, the majority of sleepwalking crimes have ended in an acquittal of the accused. Crazy... I hope somebody at least tries to diagnose their illness or find a way to make sure it doesn't happen again. Although they may be innocent, a life has been lost, and often quite gruesomely.

Rache 8:13AM May 15, 2010