Use of the Insanity Defense Part 2
Case 2: The Axe-handle Murderer. Arthur Wolff, a fifteen-year-old, was
charged with murdering his mother.* During the year preceding the crime, Wolff
"spent a lot of time thinking about sex." He made a list of the names and addresses
of seven girls in his community whom he planned to anesthetize and then
either rape or photograph nude. One night, about three weeks before the murder,
he took a container of ether and attempted to enter the house of one of these girls
through the chimney. But he became wedged in and had to be rescued. In the ensuing
weeks, Wolff apparently decided that he would have to bring the girls to his
house to achieve his sexual purposes, and that it would therefore be necessary to
get his mother (and possibly his brother) out of the way first.
On the Friday or Saturday before he murdered his mother, Wolff obtained an
axe handle from the family garage and hid it under the mattress of his bed. On
Sunday, he took the axe handle from its hiding place and approached his mother
from behind, raising the weapon to strike her. She sensed his presence and asked
him what he was doing; he answered that it was "nothing," and returned to his
room and hid the axe handle under his mattress again. The following morning,
Wolff ate the breakfast that his mother had prepared, went to his room, and took
the axe handle from its hiding place. He returned to the kitchen, approached his
mother from behind, and struck her on the back of the head. She turned around
screaming. He hit her several more times, and they fell to the floor fighting. He got
up to turn off the water running in the sink, and she fled through the dining room.
He gave chase, caught her in the front room, and choked her to death with his hands.
Wolff then took off his shirt and hung it by the fire, washed the blood off his face
and hands, read a few lines from the Bible or prayer book lying upon the dining
room table, and walked down to the police station to turn himself in. He told the
desk officer, "I have something I wish to report ... I just killed my mother with an
axe handle." The officer testified that Wolff spoke in a quiet voice and that "his
conversation was quite coherent in what he was saying 'and he answered everything
I asked him." At his trial, four expert witnesses testified that Arthur Wolff had been
suffering from schizophrenia when he murdered his mother.
Notes:
* People v. Wolff, 61 Cal. 2d 795,800.
Drummond, his secretary, rode in the vehicle that normally would
have been reserved for the Prime Minister, and was mistaken for him by M'Naghten.
The trial was remarkable in that M'Naghten's defense counsel relied
heavily ori Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity (1838), a recently published
the work by Dr. Isaac Ray. M'Naghten.
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charged with murdering his mother.* During the year preceding the crime, Wolff
"spent a lot of time thinking about sex." He made a list of the names and addresses
of seven girls in his community whom he planned to anesthetize and then
either rape or photograph nude. One night, about three weeks before the murder,
he took a container of ether and attempted to enter the house of one of these girls
through the chimney. But he became wedged in and had to be rescued. In the ensuing
weeks, Wolff apparently decided that he would have to bring the girls to his
house to achieve his sexual purposes, and that it would therefore be necessary to
get his mother (and possibly his brother) out of the way first.
On the Friday or Saturday before he murdered his mother, Wolff obtained an
axe handle from the family garage and hid it under the mattress of his bed. On
Sunday, he took the axe handle from its hiding place and approached his mother
from behind, raising the weapon to strike her. She sensed his presence and asked
him what he was doing; he answered that it was "nothing," and returned to his
room and hid the axe handle under his mattress again. The following morning,
Wolff ate the breakfast that his mother had prepared, went to his room, and took
the axe handle from its hiding place. He returned to the kitchen, approached his
mother from behind, and struck her on the back of the head. She turned around
screaming. He hit her several more times, and they fell to the floor fighting. He got
up to turn off the water running in the sink, and she fled through the dining room.
He gave chase, caught her in the front room, and choked her to death with his hands.
Wolff then took off his shirt and hung it by the fire, washed the blood off his face
and hands, read a few lines from the Bible or prayer book lying upon the dining
room table, and walked down to the police station to turn himself in. He told the
desk officer, "I have something I wish to report ... I just killed my mother with an
axe handle." The officer testified that Wolff spoke in a quiet voice and that "his
conversation was quite coherent in what he was saying 'and he answered everything
I asked him." At his trial, four expert witnesses testified that Arthur Wolff had been
suffering from schizophrenia when he murdered his mother.
Notes:
* People v. Wolff, 61 Cal. 2d 795,800.
Drummond, his secretary, rode in the vehicle that normally would
have been reserved for the Prime Minister, and was mistaken for him by M'Naghten.
The trial was remarkable in that M'Naghten's defense counsel relied
heavily ori Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity (1838), a recently published
the work by Dr. Isaac Ray. M'Naghten.
Looking for treatment?
If you are ready to schedule a FREE Consultation...
I encourage you to access this website
for the treatment I recommend here:
http://www.TheLiberatorMethod.com/