Eye On Boise

Posts tagged: insanity defense

Idaho Supreme Court upholds law that abolished insanity defense

Posted by Betsy

Dec. 1, 2011 10:52 a.m. • 0 comments

The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the law that abolished the insanity defense in Idaho, upholding the sentence of mentally ill multiple murderer John Delling of Boise, who went on a killing spree targeting his childhood friends. He was sentenced to a determinate sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. “None of Delling's constitutional rights have been infringed by the abolition of the insanity defense,” wrote Chief Justice Roger Burdick in the court's unanimous opinion; you can read it here.