United States v. James Say

MEMORANDUM

Following a bench trial, James Say was convicted of two counts and sentenced to 240 months in custody, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. The district court rejected Say’s insanity defense, which was based on Say’s schizophrenia. Say now appeals the rejection of his insanity defense and his sentence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

To establish an insanity defense, Say bore the burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that as a result of his schizophrenia he was “unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts.” 18 U.S.C. § 17 . The district court did not clearly err in finding that Say failed to make this showing. See United States v. Overton, 573 F.3d 679, 685, 688 (9th Cir.2009) (reviewing findings of fact made during a bench trial for clear error).

The record supported the finding that Say appreciated both the moral and legal wrongfulness of his actions. Dr. Low concluded that Say was not legally insane, and it was not clearly erroneous for the district court to accept that conclusion over Dr. Scolatti’s opposite conclusion. See United States v. Elliott, 322 F.3d 710, 715 (9th…