In_Cold_Blood

Marlen Rodriguez Block 9 In Cold Blood- Judge Tate’s Decision During Perry and Dick’s trial, there were two different laws which played a huge part in the decision Judge Tate ending up making- those two laws being the M’Naughten Rule and the Durham Rule. During the trial, Perry and Dick were examined by a physician who specialized in in the field of psychiatry to see if they were criminally insane. The results, however, came out both positive and negative for Perry, not as much Dick. The M’Naughten Rule, which states that “if the accused knew the nature of his act, and knew it was wrong, then he is mentally competent and responsible for his actions“. The Durham Rule on the other hand, proves the accused not guilty if they had a mental illness. The M’Naughten Rule condemned both Perry and Dick because both of them knew right from wrong, but their case was more complicated than that. While Dick showed emotional abnormality, Perry showed “definite signs of severe mental illness” as well as schizophrenic attributes. Even so, because they knew right from wrong, the Durham Rule was useless. Judge Tate was mentioned earlier in the book as being a judge that “goes strictly by the text”, something that made it pretty much impossible for Dick and Perry to leave the trial as not guilty. The trial was a bit unfair, seeming as the only thing the psychiatrists could respond with was either “yes” or “no”, and not give explanations regarding the results of the exams of the accused. If the psychiatrists had been given the chance to explain the results, then Dick and Perry would have been found not guilty by Judge Tate, who I believe would have abided by the Durham Rule instead of the M’Naughten Rule.