Commonwealth v. Tempest

437 A.2d 952 (1981)

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Commonwealth v. Tempest

Pennsylvania Supreme Court
437 A.2d 952 (1981)

Facts

Patricia Tempest (defendant) suffered from depression, had attempted suicide twice, and had been hospitalized for mental illness seven or eight times. Tempest was giving her six-year-old son a bath one day when she held him under the water and drowned him. Tempest apologized to her dead son for killing him and left him in the bathtub to make sure he had fully drowned. Tempest then watched television, had a snack, and took some medicine. When Tempest’s husband came home hours later, Tempest calmly told him that she had drowned their son. That evening, Tempest was articulate and confessed her actions to the police in a calm, lucid manner. Tempest claimed that she killed her son because he and her husband had friends and she did not, and she did not want her husband or son in her life anymore. Tempest also claimed that she felt concerned that if her son had started first grade, Tempest would have been required to interact with people, which she did not want to do. In response to a question from a police officer on the day of the killing, Tempest said that she knew that killing her son was wrong. A psychiatrist examined Tempest and diagnosed her with schizophrenia. Tempest was tried at a bench trial, without a jury. The burden was on the prosecution (plaintiff) to establish that Tempest was sane. Two experts testified that Tempest knew right from wrong. However, one expert claimed that Tempest knew right from wrong only on the surface and could not truly distinguish them when she acted. The court ruled that Tempest was sane and guilty of first-degree murder. On appeal, Tempest argued that the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish her sanity.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Larsen, J.)

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