# People v. Skinner

> California Supreme Court · September 16, 1985 · 39 Cal. 3d 765

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9553098

## Case

- **Full name:** The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JESSE SKINNER, Defendant and Appellant
- **Court:** California Supreme Court
- **Decided:** September 16, 1985
- **Citations:** 39 Cal. 3d 765; 217 Cal. Rptr. 685; 704 P.2d 752; 1985 Cal. LEXIS 335
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Bird
- **Judges:** Grodin, Mosk, Bird
- **Cited by:** 136 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- **Yellow flag:** Declined to follow by State v. Cowan, 260 Mont. 510 (1993).
- Negative treatments: 1
- Distinguished by: 0
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9553098

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that, to support an insanity defense, a defendant must show either an inability to appreciate moral wrongfulness or an inability to appreciate legal wrongfulness

## Opinion text

BIRD, C. J., Dissenting.
In June of 1982, the voters adopted a ballot measure which radically altered the test for criminal insanity in this state. (Pen. Code, § 25, subd. (b), added by Initiative Measure, Primary Elec. June 8, 1982, popularly known as Prop. 8.) I cannot ignore the fact that they adopted language which unambiguously requires the accused to demonstrate that “he or she was incapable of knowing or understanding the nature and quality of his or her act and of distinguishing right from wrong at the time of the commission of the offense.” (Ibid., italics added.) There is nothing in the statute, in Proposition 8 as a whole, or in the ballot arguments that implies that the electorate intended “and” to be “or.” However unwise that choice, it is not within this court’s power to ignore the expression of popular will and rewrite the statute.
Since appellant failed to establish his insanity under the test enunciated in Penal Code section 25, subdivision (b), I cannot join the decision of my brethren.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9553098. Public record. Not legal advice.