Ladies and gentleman of the jury we are gathered here today to discuss the murder of Mr. Jones. The prosecution states that Mr. Smith is completely and utterly sane. As the defense, we believe that the our defendant, Mr. Smith, is insane. The legal definition of insanity is, “could not distinguish fantasy from reality, could not tell right from wrong, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior”. The definition says “or” indicating that the person only has to show signs of one of these example, unfortunately, Mr. Smith can be said to have all three. He doesn’t know what fantasy and reality are, shows impulsive behavior toward the victim, Mr. Jones, and can’t tell what is right and what is wrong. …show more content…
Smith can’t differentiate reality and fantasy during the time of the crime and weeks leading to it. “Now I could hear a quick, low, soft sound, like the sound of a clock heard through a wall. It was the beating of the old man’s heart.” In reality it is physically impossible to hear a clock through a wall, but in a fantasy anything you think of is possible; therefore, he would be able to hear a clock through a wall as the beating of Mr. Jones’ heart. Also, “Suddenly I knew that the sound was not in my ears, it was not just inside my head.” and, “And still the men sat and talked, and smiled. Was it possible that they could not hear??” Mr. Smith kept hearing a sound inside his head, yet he still believed that the men could hear it. In reality, there was no sound for the men to hear, but in his fantasy the sound was just too loud for them to not