Elena Kagan sides with conservative Supreme Court justices to rule states can bar insanity defense

The Supreme Court ruled that states can bar or limit insanity pleas from criminal defendants.

The 6-3 decision Monday for a case from Kansas was issued electronically with no hard copies at the court over fears of the coronavirus pandemic.

James Kraig Kahler was sentenced to death for murdering his estranged wife, her grandmother, and two teenage daughters. Kahler’s defense team wanted to plead guilty by mounting an insanity defense, but Kansas is one of a few states that have limited the ability for defendants to do so.

Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal justice, sided with the conservative members of the high court and wrote the majority opinion.

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