Polmatier v.

Russ (1988)
FACTS
- Plaintiff seeking damages for wrongful death for the death of her husband
- The defendant is their son-in-law who came to the deceaseds home with his 2 month old
daughter
- The plaintiffs son saw the defendant astride the deceased husband beating him on the
head with a beer bottle.
- The defendant went into the bedroom, brought a Winchester rifle, and shot the plaintiffs
husband twice, causing his death.
- 5 hours later the defendant was found sitting on a stump naked, holding his daughter who
was wrapped in his clothes and with the rifle.
- He was taken to a local hospital
-

DA: if his activities were the external manifestations of irrational thought disorder , then
they cannot establish his liability.
PROCEDURAL POSTURE
- He was found not guilty based on insanity
o Psychiatrist testified that he had a severe case of paranoid schizophrenia
- Superior Court rendered judgment for the plaintiff
ISSUE
- Whether the trial court failed in failing to assess his intention for the act and the resulting
injury.
RULE STATEMENT
- If the actor knows that the consequences are certain or substantially certain, to result from
his act, and still goes ahead, he is treated by the law as if he had in fcat desured to
produce the result.
- It is not essential that the precise injury which was done be the one intended
- It is not necessary for a defendants reasons and motives for forming his intention to be
rational in order for him to have intent to invade the interests of another.
COURT REASONING
- Although he could not make a rational choice, he could make a schizophrenic or crazy
choice.
o HE told a police officer that he wanted his father-in-law to suffer for his bad habit
of being a heavy drinker.
o He told the police that he was a supreme being and had the power to rule the
destiny of the world
o He also stated that his father-in-law was a spy for the red Chinese
He gave the police SEVERAL REASONS why he killed
HOLDING
AFFIRMED
He intended to punish his father-in-law
NOTES