Insanity defense: Six notorious cases when it worked
Bruco Eastwood
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Against this backdrop, Eastwood left the Hudson home he shared with his dad around midday on February 23, 2010, and drove to Deer Creek Middle School, a short distance from Columbine High School, where he opened fire on students as school was being dismissed, seriously injuring two before he was tackled by a math teacher, Dr. David Benke, who held him down until authorities arrived.
While in custody, Eastwood exhibited plenty of bizarre behavior -- like picking at his skin in an attempt to remove the "transforming forces" from his body.
Eastwood entered a not-guilty-by-insanity plea the following July, and doctors diagnosed him as a schizophrenic whose actions were dictated by delusions and audio hallucinations. And while prosecutors made it clear they thought Eastwood had acted deliberately on that February day, the jury disagreed. In October 2011, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, after which he was confined to a state mental hospital.
Continue to read more notorious examples of when the insanity defense worked.
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