Marlen Rodriguez
Block 9
In Cold Blood- Judge Tate’s Decision
During Perry and Dick’s trial, there were two different laws which played a huge
part in the decision Judge Tate ending up making- those two laws being the M’Naughten
Rule and the Durham Rule.
During the trial, Perry and Dick were examined by a physician who specialized in
in the field of psychiatry to see if they were criminally insane. The results, however, came
out both positive and negative for Perry, not as much Dick. The M’Naughten Rule, which
states that “if the accused knew the nature of his act, and knew it was wrong, then he is
mentally competent and responsible for his actions“. The Durham Rule on the other hand,
proves the accused not guilty if they had a mental illness. The M’Naughten Rule
condemned both Perry and Dick because both of them knew right from wrong, but their
case was more complicated than that. While Dick showed emotional abnormality, Perry
showed “definite signs of severe mental illness” as well as schizophrenic attributes. Even
so, because they knew right from wrong, the Durham Rule was useless.
Judge Tate was mentioned earlier in the book as being a judge that “goes strictly
by the text”, something that made it pretty much impossible for Dick and Perry to leave
the trial as not guilty.
The trial was a bit unfair, seeming as the only thing the psychiatrists could
respond with was either “yes” or “no”, and not give explanations regarding the results of
the exams of the accused. If the psychiatrists had been given the chance to explain the
results, then Dick and Perry would have been found not guilty by Judge Tate, who I
believe would have abided by the Durham Rule instead of the M’Naughten Rule.