16. A Gilded Age Sleepwalking Defense
Out on the street, Fain thrust the pistol into a bystander’s hand, and asked him to defend him because he had just shot somebody, but did not know who. The receptionist succumbed to his wounds, and Fain was arrested. Tried, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison, from which sentence he appealed. The appellate court reversed the conviction. It held that the trial court erred when it refused to allow Fain to introduce evidence by medical experts of somnambulism, or that he had been a lifelong sleepwalker.
The lower court had denied Fain’s request to introduce evidence that he had to be watched since infancy lest he injure himself while asleep. Additionally, he had witnesses who were prevented from testifying that when aroused from sleep, Fain frequently got up frightened and resorted to violence as if resisting an assault. For minutes thereafter, he would seem unconscious of what he did or what was going around him. In conclusion, the appellate court held that what mattered was whether Fain had been unconscious or nearly so of what he was doing or what was being done to him. If in such a state he thought he was being attacked and so resisted an attempt to end or injure him, he should be acquitted.
Read More: 11 Sleepwalking Killers from History Will Make You Want to Bar Your Doors At Night.
