Butler v. State

In Butler v. State, 252 Ga. 135 (311 S.E.2d 473) (1984), a probate court, which was familiar with the defendant's long history of mental illness, found the defendant to be in need of immediate psychiatric treatment and granted a motion for an involuntary commitment. Later that day, the defendant stabbed an officer to death as he tried to take her to a mental institution. Based on these facts, our Supreme Court held that the defendant was entitled to a presumption of insanity at her murder trial based on the probate court's finding of insanity. Thus, the presumption of insanity applied to the defendant's criminal act which occurred after the point at which her mental state of insanity had been proven. Butler, therefore, has no application to the case at hand because the acts for which Vanderpool was tried occurred prior to the point in time at which he was proven to be insane.