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Perry's Trial: Guilty Or Insane?

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In this lawsuit, Perry was deemed guilty for first degree murdering of the Clutters family. Mainly, the trial focused on Perry’s sanity and his mental state, which was one of the determining factors of the verdict. Other legal manners that both sides addressed are whether Perry murdered the family willingly and if he planned out the murders beforehand. At the end, the jury deemed Perry guilty because he wanted no witnesses to be left, which meant that the Clutters had to die, and Perry picked up the shotgun shells after the murdering took place, which displays Perry’s lack of insanity during the murdering and his plan of not being caught after the murdering took place. The defense emphasized their arguments on Perry’s poor mental state throughout the trial. They started with stating the Kansas law, which explained that people who cannot make decisions due to their poor mental state should not receive charges. By reciting this law, the defendants could then prove that Perry is insane and he did not intentionally kill the Clutters. To supplement their case, the defendants brought in two valid witnesses: Tex Smith and Willie Jay. Tex …show more content…
If the defense would have had a valid expert witness during the direct examination, they could have countered Satten’s hypothesis by revealing evidence that Perry was insane, which could have created some doubt in the jury members’ minds. Furthermore, the defense only focused on Perry’s low level of sanity from his earlier days, which they did a poor job, whereas the Prosecution spread their arguments to topics that are moderately related to the murdering such as Perry’s willingness to commit the crime and his prior plans of the murdering. This court case exemplified how the side with more holes in their arguments end up shorthanded, even though there was clear evidence that supports their

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