Ethical and Legal Issues 725
- whether the person knew in the abstract that the act was wrong versus knew that
the specifi c behavior was wrong in a particular circumstance (for instance, some-
one can know that killing people is wrong but, because of a mental illness, believe
that killing a particular person for a specifi c reason is justifi ed: “He was the devil,
tempting me, so I had to kill him”).Let’s examine how these issues about the insanity defense apply to AndrewGoldstein, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. At the trial, an eyewitness
to the murder, Ms. Lorenzino, who was standing nearby on the platform, testifi ed
that she:
entered the subway station... just behind Mr. Goldstein and immediately noticed
that he was acting strangely. “I saw a man walking in front of me walking oddly,”
Ms. Lorenzino said. She said Mr. Goldstein would take a few “baby steps” on his
“tip toes” and then stumble. Mr. Goldstein then started walking normally, then paced
furiously back and forth on the southern end of the platform. He mumbled to himself
and eyed Ms. Lorenzino and Ms. Webdale, who was reading a magazine about six feet
away from Ms. Lorenzino, each time he passed them. Mr. Goldstein’s pacing was so
intense that it prompted one man to cry out: “Yo buddy, can you stop pacing? You’re
making us nervous,” Ms. Lorenzino said.
As the wait for a train dragged on, Mr. Goldstein walked up to Ms. Lorenzino and
stood beside her, she said. “I felt very uncomfortable that he was standing next to me.... I said, ‘What are you looking at?’ Then he backed off as if he was frustrated.”
Mr. Goldstein paced for a few more minutes, Ms. Lorenzino said, looked down the track
as if checking for a train and then walked down the platform to Ms. Webdale. “Do you
have the time?” he asked her. Ms. Webdale glanced at her watch and answered, “a little
after fi ve,” Ms. Lorenzino said. Mr. Goldstein then positioned himself against the wall
behind Ms. Webdale, who returned to her magazine, Ms. Lorenzino said.
When the train sped into the station, she said, Mr. Goldstein “darted” off the wall
and violently pushed Ms. Webdale. Ms. Lorenzino said she was struck by how well-
planned the push seemed. It gave Ms. Webdale no time to escape. “It was perfect,” she
said, referring to the timing. Ms. Webdale’s body never hit the rails, she said, “she just
fl ew right under the train.”
Police Offi cer Raymond McLoughlin, who also testifi ed yesterday, said he arrived
at the station to fi nd people shouting “He’s right here! He’s right here!” He found Mr.
Goldstein, who made no effort to escape, sitting on the platform with his legs crossed,
surrounded by 20 enraged people who were berating him, he said.
(Rohde, 1999c)
After the murder, during Goldstein’s confession, the prosecutor tried to understand
whether Goldstein understood what he was doing, that is, whether his
mental illness caused him to lack a “substantial capacity” to know or appreciate “the na-
ture and consequence” of the attack or know that it was wrong. On the videotape, [the
prosecutor] pointedly asks Mr. Goldstein if he thinks it was wrong to push Ms. Webdale.
Mr. Goldstein nods and then appears confused. The prosecutor asks him if he under-
stands. Mr. Goldstein says no, and then [the prosecutor] asks him again if he thinks the
attack was wrong. “I wasn’t thinking about anything when I pushed her,” Mr. Goldstein
said. “It’s like an attack. You don’t really think.... It’s like whoosh, whoosh” he added,
referring to what he repeatedly described during the confession as the sensation of a
“spirit” or “ghost” entering his body that gave him an overwhelming desire to push,
kick or shove. Mr. Goldstein says that he pushed Ms. Webdale only “slightly,” but then
seems confused again. He blurts out that “I didn’t push her thinking she would end up
on tracks” and that he did not know in what direction he was pushing Ms. Webdale.
Mr. Goldstein then says, “I wouldn’t push anyone onto the tracks.”
“Because you know its wrong?’’ [the prosecutor] asks.
“Yes,’’ Mr. Goldstein replies.
(Rohde, 1999a)The prosecutor continues to try to clarify whether Goldstein understood that what
he had done to Webdale was wrong:
“But you knew,’’ says the interrogator, “that if you pushed her off the platform, she
might get.. .’’
“Killed, yeah,’’ Mr. Goldstein says.