State v. Sexton

Sexton (defendant) beat Ikeda to death while under the influence of LSD; pretrial mental evaluations agreed Sexton was legally insane at the time of the killing but found his psychosis was caused solely by his own voluntary LSD use. The trial court allowed an insanity defense unless the evidence showed Sexton had voluntarily taken the drug knowing it would produce a psychotic episode, and an interlocutory appeal was taken to the Vermont Supreme Court to resolve whether that defense could be raised at all.