The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2024 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Title 13 : Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Chapter 157 : Insanity as a Defense
(Cite as: 13 V.S.A. § 4801)-
§ 4801. Test of insanity in criminal cases
(a) The test when used as a defense in criminal cases shall be as follows:
(1) A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect the person lacks adequate capacity either to appreciate the criminality of the person’s conduct or to conform the person’s conduct to the requirements of law.
(2) The terms “mental disease or defect” do not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct. The terms “mental disease or defect” includes congenital and traumatic mental conditions as well as disease.
(b) The defendant shall have the burden of proof in establishing insanity as an affirmative defense by a preponderance of the evidence. The defendant shall be responsible for hiring the defendant’s own forensic evaluator for the purpose of establishing insanity, provided that the Office of the Defender General shall pay for the evaluation of an indigent defendant. (Amended 1983, No. 75; 2023, No. 28, § 1, eff. July 1, 2023.)
