History’s 16 Most Creative Legal Defenses … And Their Result!

As long as judicial systems have existed, there has been a tug-of-war between prosecutors and the defense. Often, the conflict is straight-forward, but some struggles are more complicated.

For example, in the 19th Century as advancements were made in the field of science and psychology, defense experts took to blaming the full moon for an increase in erratic and criminal behavior. This became known as “the full moon or lunar defense.”

In fact, a University of Washington study from 1978, provided ample evidence as to why attorneys “went there” with their defendants. The study concluded that out of 11,613 cases of aggravated assault in a five-year period, a majority took place close to the full moon, while 34,318 crimes in a yearlong period followed suit.

As one might expect, the ensuing years stretched the boundaries of creative legal defenses even further, and those boundaries continue to evolve today. To celebrate the last hundred or so years of outside-the-box thinking, we now give you History’s 16 Most Creative Legal Defenses… And Their Result!

Let’s get started.

1. Lorena Bobbitt and the ‘Irresistible Impulse’

Lorena Bobbitt and the 'Irresistible Impulse' Defense - Reeves Law Group

The Case: On June 23, 1993, a couple in Manassas, Virginia, would become household names when Lorena Bobbitt, then-wife of husband John, decided to sever his member while he slept.

Lorena claimed this was in response to her husband raping her earlier that evening. Lucky for John, after Lorena threw the member out, guilt took over and she called 9-1-1. Medical officials were able to reattach it after a 9.5-hour operation.

Outcome of the Defense: Lorena’s defense in the trial was that she endured a history of abuse from John and that the shock of the rape led to a psychological state where she was acting simultaneously in self-defense and temporary insanity.

It was dubbed the “irresistible impulse” defense, and it worked. It took the jury 7.5 hours to find Lorena not guilty due to her distressed psychological condition. The pair became celebrities after the incident and later appeared on The Insider in May 2009.

Image Credit: Redbook

2. Dan White and the ‘Twinkie Defense’

Dan White and the 'Twinkie Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Dan White and Harvey Milk were San Francisco supervisors in the 1970s. Milk was the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, though the falling out he would have with White had more to do with professional differences.

Specifically the fact that White blamed Milk for convincing San Francisco Mayor George Moscone to not reappoint him after he stepped down in 1978 but then had a subsequent change of heart. On November 27, 1978, White stormed City Hall and gunned down Milk and Moscone.

Outcome of the Defense: White’s defense is often misinterpreted as basically “Twinkies made me do it” and became known as the “Twinkie Defense.” What his attorneys actually argued though was that his change in diet, including the consumption of more sugary foods, was symptomatic of an underlying depression.

While it didn’t get him acquitted, he did escape with a voluntary manslaughter conviction, which meant a seven-year prison sentence. He only served five, but would later commit suicide at the age of 39.

The tragic deaths of Milk and Moscone were later dramatized in the Academy Award-winning film Milk.

Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

3. Mohammed Anwar and the ‘Driving Between Wives Defense’

Mohammed Anwar and the 'Driving Between Wives Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Mohammed Anwar, a Muslim man in Scotland, was caught going 34 miles over the speed limit and faced a ban on driving privileges. However, as a business owner and, more importantly, a married man, he could not afford to let that happen so he devised an interesting matrimonial defense.

Outcome of the Defense: What makes Anwar’s defense unique? He was married to two women and in order to be a dutiful husband, he needed to be able to drive back and forth from their locations in Glasgow and Motherwell while maintaining his business at Falkirk, Stirlingshire.

While it didn’t get him off the hook for demolishing speed laws, it was an effective enough defense to keep his driving privileges at the cost of a £200 fine and six penalty points on his record.

Image Credit: Daily Mail / How Stuff Works

4. Sandie Craddock and the ‘PMS Defense’

Sandie Craddock and the 'PMS Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Sandie Craddock took a common malady of women everywhere, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and applied it in a completely uncommon way as her legal defense after stabbing a co-worker to death in 1980.

Outcome of the Defense: As is often the case with creative legal defenses, they’re not always successful in earning exoneration but they can reduce outcomes in favor of a defendant. Such was the case with Craddock, who was convicted of a much minor charge of manslaughter and forced to take progesterone, according to the CBC.

Image Credit: Time

5. Jan Luedecke and the ‘Sexsomnia Defense’

Jan Luedecke and the 'Sexsomnia Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Jan Luedecke was a Canadian man, who faced charges for rape in 2005. Luedecke did not deny the sexual episode, nor did he deny that the incident was of a non-consensual nature.

Instead he opted for the “sexsomnia defense.” In other words, he forced himself on the woman while in a state of sleepwalking and didn’t realize that sex had occurred until after she had pushed him away and he found later he was still wearing a condom.

Outcome of the Defense: According to a 2007 Newsday article, Luedecke, who had a history of sleepwalking, was acquitted of the crime.

Image Credit: Medical Daily

6. Steven Steinberg and the ‘Homicidal Somnambulism Defense’

Steven Steinberg and the 'Homicidal Somnambulism Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: One night in 1981, a Scottsdale, Arizona, man took a kitchen knife and stabbed his wife 26 times with it. He then admitted to a jury of his peers that he killed her, but like Luedecke the “sexsomniac,” he argued he did so in a state of sleepwalking.

Outcome of the Defense: Since Steinberg had a history of sleepwalking, he was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. However, he was deemed sane by the time the jury handed down that verdict, so he walked away from the case a free man.

As a result of the verdict which caused public outcry, Arizona changed its laws to allow for “guilty but insane” to supersede “temporary insanity.” In other words, had Steinberg been tried under the new model he would have been forced to serve a sentence at a mental institution.

Image Credit: Priceonomics

7. Jonathan Schmitz and the ‘Gay Panic Defense’

Jonathan Schmitz and the 'Gay Panic Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Scott Amedure was a gay man, who died at the age of 32 for no other reason than having a crush on neighbor Jonathan Schmitz.

Amedure went on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show, a daily daytime talk show popular in the 1990s, to reveal his secret. Jones also invited Schmitz, letting him know ahead of time that the admirer could be either a man or woman. Schmitz testified that Jones’ representatives implied the crush was a woman.

After the taping, Amedure and Schmitz went out for a night of drinking that allegedly turned into a sexual episode. A few days after the episode, Schmitz purchased a shotgun, went to Amedure’s trailer, and shot him twice in the chest.

Outcome of the Defense: Schmitz used what has come to be known as the “gay panic defense,” or a form of temporary insanity that turns one violent due to a psychiatric condition known as homosexual panic. It was not enough to get Schmitz off the hook for second degree murder, however. He received a sentence of 25 to 50 years in prison.

Image Credit: MDOC Department of Corrections

8. John Hinckley and the ‘Taxi Driver Defense’

John Hinckley and the 'Taxi Driver Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: John Hinckley, Jr., came very close to assassinating newly elected President Ronald Reagan in 1981, but the target could just as easily have been his predecessor, President Jimmy Carter. In fact, he was previously arrested on weapons charges while pursuing Carter.

Hinckley was not ideologically driven; rather his obsession stemmed from the Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver and the actress who played its young prostitute, Jodie Foster. Hinckley stalked Foster and sought to impress her by playing out the Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) role. His attorneys would invoke that as his defense when he was arrested shortly after shooting Reagan.

Outcome of the Defense: The “Taxi Driver defense” worked as well as it could have, earning him a “not guilty by reason of insanity” and 34 years-and-counting at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Image Credit: BoingBoing

9. Tonda Lynn Ansley and the ‘Matrix Defense’

Tonda Lynn Ansley and the 'Matrix Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Tonda Lynn Ansley invoked this defense after shooting her landlady in the head in July 2002. Tonda alleged that her victim was part of a conspiracy to brainwash and kill her, according to CNN.

“They commit a lot of crimes in ‘The Matrix,'” Ansley told police officers shortly following her arrest. “That’s where you go to sleep at night and they drug you and take you somewhere else and then they bring you back and put you in bed and, when you wake up, you think that it’s a bad dream.”

Outcome of the Defense: The Matrix defense, like Hinckley’s Taxi Driver, succeeded in getting Ansley placed in a mental health facility rather than prison. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Image Credit: Enquirer

10. Jason Cazares, Michael Magidson, José Merél, Jaron Nabors and the ‘TransPanic Defense’

Jason Cazares, Michael Magidson, José Merél, Jaron Nabors and the 'TransPanic Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Gwen Araujo, birth name Edward Araujo, Jr., was a trans-teenager victimized by four men on the night of October 4, 2002.

Araujo had sexual contact with Magidson and Merél, but reportedly concealed her anatomy so that the men would not know her biological gender. Eventually they discovered the reality through force. After the men struck Araujo with a shovel and strangled her with a rope, she finally died from her injuries.

Outcome of the Defense: The use of the transpanic defense in this case was able to help the men escape hate crime enhancement charges. Two of the men pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter while two were convicted of second degree murder.

Since the incident occurred, there has been a growing movement to ban this type of legal defense as well as its “gay panic” cousin with California being the first state to do so in 2014.

Image Credit: FindAGrave

11. Colin Ferguson and the ‘Black Rage/Computer Chip Defense’

Colin Ferguson and the 'Black Rage/Computer Chip Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: On December 7, 1993, Colin Ferguson pulled out a gun in the middle of the Long Island Rail Road in Garden City, New York, and fired into a crowd of dozens. He killed six and injured 19 before heroes Kevin Blum, Mark McEntee, and Mike O’Connor, put a stop to the terror. As newsworthy as that was, Ferguson’s trial would become a media circus.

Outcome of the Defense: Ferguson’s attorneys devised the “Black Rage Defense” in an attempt to get their client off by reason of temporary insanity claiming that he was driven insane by racial prejudice. Would it have worked? No one will ever know since Ferguson fired his legal team in the middle of the proceedings and decided to defend himself.

In the ensuing trial, he would have the opportunity to question his own victims and arresting officers, make claims that he was receiving messages from God, get a defense witness who backed up his claim that the government implanted a computer chip in his brain to control him, and various other bits of chicanery.

But as the old adage says, a man who defends himself has a fool for a client. He is now serving a 315-year sentence at Upstate Correctional Facility in Franklin County, New York.

Image Credit: TheRoot

12. R. Sathis Raj and Sabarish Raj and the ‘Identical Twins Defense’

R. Sathis Raj and Sabarish Raj and the 'Identical Twins Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: R. Sathis Raj and Sabarish Raj were identical twins in Malaysia facing a potential death sentence over trafficking of 166 kilograms of cannabis and 1.7 kilograms of opium, according to The Telegraph.

Outcome of the Defense: Authorities were sure that one of the men were guilty but could not verify which of the two twins were originally arrested and charged. Further complicating the matter was that neither twin was choosing to cooperate leaving open the very real possibility of executing an innocent man.

As a result, the Judge on the case, Zaharah Ibrahim, had no choice but to dismiss the charges, stating, “Although one of them must be called to enter a defense, I can’t be calling the wrong twin. … I also can’t be sending the wrong person to the gallows.”

Image Credit: BabyCentre

13. Keison Wilkins and the ‘Heart Attack Defense’

Keison Wilkins and the 'Heart Attack Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Keison Wilkins was arrested and charged with felonious assault. At his 2008 trial, he opted to defend himself. Realizing that was a bad idea, he opted for a desperate course of action: fake a heart attack in the middle of the trial.

Outcome of the Defense: Wilkins was no Redd Foxx when it came to fake heart attacks. According to witnesses at the trial, observers showed little concern as if they realized what he was doing the whole time. (See for yourself here.)

As a precautionary measure, medical personnel checked him out to make sure nothing was wrong but the trial went on without a delay. He is now serving a 42-year sentence.

Image Credit: Freenology

14. Robert Torsney and the ‘Automatism of Penfield Defense’

Robert Torsney and the 'Automatism of Penfield Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: New York Police Officer Robert Torsney answered a Thanksgiving Day call in 1976. He and his partner were responding to reports of an armed man in the Cypress Hills housing projects.

Upon arrival, Torsney encountered a group of unarmed teens. One of those individuals was 15-year-old Randolph Evans, whom Torsney inexplicably drew on, firing one round into the youth’s head. He then returned to the patrol car at which point his partner asked him what he’d just done. “I don’t know, Matty,” he said to the officer. “What did I do?”

Outcome of the Defense: Torsney’s defense claimed that he suffered from a condition known as the Automatism of Penfield, an “automatic behavior” named for neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield. The defense worked, getting him off with a “not guilty by reason of insanity” verdict. He was institutionalized for two years and earned release in 1978.

Image Credit: University of Virginia

15. Edward Ates and the ‘Too Fat Defense’

Edward Ates and the 'Too Fat Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: Florida man Edward Ates had a falling out with former son-in-law Paul Duncsak and reportedly drove 21 hours to settle their dispute at the end of a pistol. He shot Duncsak several times at close range, but hoped to beat the rap by pointing to the weight scale.

Outcome of the Defense: Ates was 5’8″ and weighed 300 pounds at the time of the incident. His attorneys argued that he was clearly “too fat” to have made the drive and fired accurately at Duncsak.

Ates’ doctor attempted to help out with his defense as well, stating that running up the stairs of Duncsak’s home “would have taken a toll on a man the size of Ates, likely causing his hands to shake, making firing a gun accurately difficult,” ABC News reported in 2009.

Ultimately the jury didn’t buy it. He was sentenced to life in prison later that year.

Image Credit: CTV News

16. Ethan Couch and the ‘Affluenza Defense’

Ethan Couch and the 'Affluenza Defense' - The Reeves Law Group

The Case: June 15, 2013. A SUV disabled on the roadside received help from another vehicle in Burleson, Texas. While the passengers were congregated next to their vehicles, 20-year-old Ethan Couch plowed into them, killing four. Couch was under the influence of alcohol at the time, and was also driving on a restricted license.

The son of wealthy parents, his attorneys argued that he could not be held accountable for his actions because of a condition prevalent in the wealthy known as affluenza. In other words, he was never taught by his parents that actions have consequences; instead he was taught that wealth buys privilege.

Outcome of the Defense: The defense sort of worked. It got Couch sentenced to a costly rehabilitation facility on his parents’ dime along with ten years’ probation. After violating those terms and making for Mexico, he was picked up and placed in the Tarrant County jail. A second probation violation could result in a 40-year prison sentence.

Image Credit: BBC

Here at The Reeves Law Group we know where there is a will, there is a way; and where there is a crime, there is a creative legal defense. Which of these do you believe was the most inventive, and what did you think about their results?

Sound off in the comments section, and while you’re at it, have your say. Which cases would you have included or that we mistakenly left off our list?

13 comments on “History’s 16 Most Creative Legal Defenses … And Their Result!

  1. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    craigbic on

    This has to be the best and most interesting legal articles I have read in a long time. I find it amazing that some of these, shall we say, “creative” defense strategies worked. I’ve seen a few of these cases on TV shows such as Forensic Files or have read about them elsewhere but the one that baffles me most is the Automatism of Penfield Defense in #14. I guess there was some real legal shenanigans going on in the mid to late 70’s. Still not sure exactly what the defense claimed in that case – automatic response, ok, but to what stimuli and under what conditions? In light of all the recent questionable shooting incidents involving law enforcement, why haven’t we heard this defense come up more?

    Reply
  2. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Clara on

    I think that Lorena Bobbitt was indeed raped by her husband. Why? Because he later wed another woman who also said she was assaulted by him and because I believed Lorena. He probably didn’t deserve to have his … severed but he should have gone to jail for what he did.

    Unfortunately, there are so many cases where women are assaulted and we don’t even know about it. Sometimes, they are ashamed to come forward, other times they just fear for their lives or the lives of their children and choose to keep it a secret.

    Reply
  3. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    David on

    I love your articles, they are quite interesting. Never heard of the Twinkie defense, but that’s a good! I wonder how many other cases tried to blame it on their diets? I mean, If this was true I think we would have a lot more murders because America is just full of people eating “twinkies!”

    Reply
  4. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Taylor H on

    Wow 200 pounds is great for going 35 miles over!! I was going 11 over once and got a $300 ticket. Guess he got off for admitting about his secret of having two wife’s….wonder where he slept at night. Didn’t they get suspicious?

    Reply
  5. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Sam Myers on

    Hhmm stabbing a co worker because of PMS? What’s going to happen when we have a women president and she’s PMSing? Watch out world…it may be coming soon!!

    Reply
  6. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Johnie on

    I couldn’t believe my eyes when I’ve read that Jan Luedecke was acquitted of the crime! People, wake up! This man raped a woman and you’re acquitting him? I understand he could have been asleep or whatnot but he still raped a woman! Shouldn’t he pay for this? Agree, maybe he shouldn’t get more than a few years for this, but he should get something. Not getting anything just doesn’t make sense to me. You do the crime, you pay a price. Even if he didn’t want to do this, he still destroyed the life of the woman and she will never be the same again.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
      Oliver on

      Yeah, I had the same reaction. I was shocked to say the least considering this is rape we are talking about here! People should pay for that no matter their state of mind. Raped women should at least know their society will make rapist pay for doing this but Jan didn’t even get a day of jail time! What if he is faking this affection he has? Or what if he is taking advantage of it to get away with rape? They shouldn’t have acquitted him. No. They could take his sexsomnia into account but that shouldn’t lead to an acquittal.

      Reply
  7. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Kevin K on

    What?! He was acquitted using a sexsomnia defense?! He still rapped a women! Im surprised to see that sleep walkers don’t use this to their advantage. Apparantly you can do whatever you want as long as you have that diagnosis from a doctor and say you were sleep walking…..it doesn’t matter if it’s daytime.

    But on the other hand, I’ve been around sleep walkers before and yes they are hard to wake up and they don’t usually remember the next day what happened. Now that I think about it I’m kind of torn on the whole situation….I feel bad for this women, but I’m not sure if he’s at fault or not.

    Reply
  8. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Beth Anne on

    Glad to see that Arizona changed their law since the Steven Steinberg case. These people shouldn’t get off just because they were sleep walking. Something should be done to help them in their sleep walking situation.

    Reply
  9. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Kathy on

    That Identical Twins Defense is something else. How horrible would that be if they sent they picked the wrong twin. The innocent twin did really put his life on the line not speaking up becuase you never know what a judge will do. Kind of a scary situation to be in.

    Reply
  10. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Riana on

    Sandie Craddock had some problems since she also tried to attack a cop when her hormone dosage was reduced. This cop allegedly insulted her 3 years earlier!!! The weird part was she got probation again after this incident. Is it just me or should she have gotten a more serious punishment? It seems to me that she was a danger to people. She should have also got a bigger punishment for killing a coworker but she didn’t because she was apparently “not in control of her faculties”. I can understand the need for hormones but murder is murder.

    Reply
  11. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee
    Kevin on

    The Gay panic defense seems horrible for a lot or reasons. We all need to just realize that we live in a complex world, where people are free to do whatever they want as long as they don’t hurt others. Their sexual preferences shouldn’t be up for discussion and no one should say they shot someone because he was gay or because they are afraid of gay people. This is absurd. Schmitz paid for his crime but he also destroyed at least a life by killing Scott.

    Reply
  12. Avatar for Casey Markee Cmarkee

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