In a 2010 criminal proceeding, Leatrice Brewer admitted to drowning her three children in a bathtub, and entered a plea of “not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect.” Now, in the related Surrogate’s Court proceeding pending in Nassau County, the administrator of the children’s estates has requested application of the “slayer rule” to prevent Ms. Brewer from benefitting from her actions. Spencer L. Reames discusses the case, and the possible boundaries of the slayer rule vis a vis the insanity defense, in our latest entry.
Continue Reading When a Black Letter Rule Meets a Gray Area: the “Slayer Rule” and the Insanity Defense