2025 Session Last amended: 2013 session

§ 611.026 — Criminal Responsibility of Persons With a Mental Illness or Cognitive Impairment

Plain-Language Summary

A person with a mental illness or cognitive impairment who cannot understand court proceedings or help with their own defense cannot be tried, sentenced, or punished. However, having a mental illness alone is not enough to avoid criminal responsibility. The person must prove that at the time of the crime, their mental condition made them unable to understand what they were doing or that it was wrong.

611.026 CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY OF PERSONS WITH A MENTAL ILLNESS OR COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT.

No person having a mental illness or cognitive impairment so as to be incapable of understanding the proceedings or making a defense shall be tried, sentenced, or punished for any crime; but the person shall not be excused from criminal liability except upon proof that at the time of committing the alleged criminal act the person was laboring under such a defect of reason, from one of these causes, as not to know the nature of the act, or that it was wrong.

History:

(9915) RL s 4756; 1971 c 352 s 1; 1986 c 444; 2013 c 59 art 3 s 18

History: History: (9915) RL s 4756; 1971 c 352 s 1; 1986 c 444; 2013 c 59 art 3 s 18

Practical Notes

This law sets a high bar for the insanity defense in Minnesota. Simply having a mental illness or cognitive impairment is not enough. The defendant must prove they did not know the nature of their act or that it was wrong at the time they committed it. If a defendant cannot understand court proceedings, the case is paused until they can, but that does not mean they are excused from the crime.

Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes