Ala. Code § 13A-3-1

Mental Disease or Defect.

Known as the Alabama Criminal Code

The act spans §§ 13A-10-1 to 13A-9-92 (653 sections).

Applied in 23 court decisions — leading case 710 So. 2d 1276 - Williams v. State (1996)

Most recently applied in 140 S. Ct. 1021 - Kahler v. Kansas (March 2020)

(Acts 1977, No. 607, p. 812, §501; Acts 1988, No. 88-654, p. 1051, §2.)

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution for any crime that, at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant, as a result of severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his acts. Mental disease or defect does not otherwise constitute a defense.

(b) “Severe mental disease or defect” does not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct.

Official source: Alabama Legislature (ALISON). Reproduced from public-domain Alabama statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.