By: Dan Shaw, [email protected]//March 14, 2014//
Those who willingly took alcohol or drugs to become intoxicated and then committed a crime could no longer cite their altered mental state as a defense under a bill a state Senate committee passed Friday.
Senate Bill 637 was passed unanimously by the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor. While eliminating the ability to rely on defenses citing deliberate uses of drugs and alcohol, the bill would leave in place defenses citing a state of involuntary intoxication that could have prevented someone distinguishing right from wrong.
To become law, the legislation must be passed by the full Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker.
The Assembly version of the bill passed out of the Assembly’s judiciary committee March 4. It is up for a full Assembly vote Tuesday. Follow @TDR_WLJDan