Summary
An article in the Greeley Tribune says that Allen Bergerud, who is on trial for a double murder, may say his blood sugar was so high that he was in an intoxicated-type state at the time of the murders.
Original source:
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20050615/NEWS/106150071/?rs=2
Details
The Colorado Supreme Court's decision to allow a new defense for a diabetic man accused of trying to kill his wife could impact a Weld County murder case.
of Adams County could defend himself by saying he was "involuntarily intoxicated" because of low blood sugar brought on by diabetes.
Allen Bergerud, 51, a Johnstown man accused of double murder, is diabetic and his former defense attorney said during the last trial that high blood sugar might have clouded his judgment.
Bergerud has not yet entered a plea in his second trial, and his public defenders aren't saying what it might be.
But the high court's ruling makes it certain that Bergerud won't have to plead insanity in order to use his diabetes as a defense.
Sam Kamin, an assistant law professor at the University of Denver, said he didn't know about Bergerud's case, but the high court's decision could have an impact.
In the Garcia case, the trial court wouldn't let evidence that Garcia had low blood sugar be a part of his defense unless he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
"There is a difference between intoxication and insanity -- the person who is insane has done the crime but is excused from punishment," he said.
I couldn't have intended to kill because I was so drunk, or because my blood sugar was so low.'
In pre-trial hearings in the fall of 2004, Bergerud's lawyer suggested that Bergerud's blood sugar level was high and that he was in a "fugue mental state" and could not have acted with deliberation.
That is different from a low
blood sugar reaction, like in the Garcia case, but it's similar enough to the high court ruling to have a possible effect here.
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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
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