Sleepwalking has been a controversial condemnable defense since its first use in 1846 , with some going so far as to call it a “ Twinkie ” defense ( or a legally dubious account for committing a given crime ) .
In spite of this defense ’s toilsome - to - believe nature , however , defense attorneys in the landmark case below were able to prove beyond a reasonable dubiousness that their clientswereasleep at the prison term of their criminal offense , and therefore could not be held criminally accountable for them .
Albert Tirrell
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The murder trial run of Albert Tirrell marked the first successful use of sleepwalk as a felonious defense . In 1846 , a jury acquit Tirrell of murder after his attorney proved that he was a continuing noctambulist .
Tirrell ’s worry first began after law receive the body of Maria Bickford , a prostitute with whom Tirrell had developed a significant human relationship , with her pharynx slit almost to the point of beheading . Tirrell , who had a married woman and a child , was with Bickford in the brothel at the metre of the murder .
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The sheath quickly became sensationalized in the document : The report expire that Tirrell , who treat Bickford as a quixotic partner , was green-eyed that she ’d taken another customer . After that customer depart Bickford ’s room , Tirrell allegedly took a razor to Bickford ’s neck and slit her throat and then lit multiple fire to destroy the grounds . Perhaps most incriminatingly of all , Tirrell fled to New Orleans before he was finally arrested .
Once apprehended , Tirrell hired celebrated Boston attorneyRufus Choate , who had made a reputation for his groundbreaking , elaborated contorting of the law , which generally kept his clients out of the slammer . In this case , Choate argued that , because Tirrell lacked any real motif to down Bickford out of dusty blood and there were no eyewitnesses to the real crime , proof beyond a fairish doubt would be out of the question to attain .
If it were the case Tirrell kill Bickford , Choate reason , could it not be the fount that Tirrell , who sleepwalked occasionally , could have been sleepwalk when he committed the act ? The jury apparently bought it : It only took the jury two 60 minutes to find Tirrell not guilty . Choate had successfully make the “ insanity of sleep ” defense .
