7 Criminal Cases That Invoked the 'Sleepwalking Defense'

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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

I guess when you think about it the human body (let alone the mind) really is a mysterious and wonderful thing. I find it a little sad though that some people try and pawn off their actions on an excuse that after having so many people mis-value it, almost seems irrelevant to most. It's sad. I learned some interesting things from this sight, and for that im thankful

Krystal of NY 7:31PM March 29, 2010

I think that this stuff is really interesting how some people can just do this in their sleep and not remember one bit.
But it is also a little creepy.

Rylee of SD 10:42PM February 24, 2010