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![handle is hein.journals/usflr56 and id is 443 raw text is: The Future of Criminal Culpability:
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder's
(PTSD) Effect on a Defendant's
Actions and State of Mind
By AMIN R. YACOUB* AND BECKY BRIGGS**
One difficulty that has not yet been fully resolved, however, is
where to draw the line between incompetency and insanity on one
hand, and competency and sanity on the other.'
Introduction
ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2021, Ms. Spinuzzi pled guilty in a Colorado
state district court to one count of an accessory after the fact to a first-
degree murder committed by her abusive boyfriend.2 Initially, she was
charged with child abuse and accessory after the fact to a first-degree
murder committed by her boyfriend who murdered an eighteen-
month-old foster child in her care.3 Her plea agreement dismissed the
* International lawyer admitted to practice in New York and Egypt. Prosecutor at
the Egyptian Public Prosecution; Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD/PhD) Candidate at the
University of Virginia School of Law (2021); Former Research Scholar at New York
University (NYU) School of Law (2018); LLM in International Law, NYU School of
Law, MAHS Scholar (2018); LLM in Public Law, Faculty of Law, Cairo University (2017);
Former Associate in the Arbitration Department at Matouk Bassiouny Law Firm (2015-16);
LLB with High Distinction and Honors, Cairo University, Faculty of Law English Section
(2015). The authors would like to thank Allegra Upton and the Editors at the University of
San Francisco Law Review for their diligent edits and insightful comments throughout the
article.
** Criminal defense attorney licensed in Colorado, Virginia, and federal district
courts. L.L.M., University of San Diego School of Law (2022); DSW, University of Southern
California (2019); J.D., Villanova (2008); B.A., Bryn Mawr College (2004).
1. Nicholas Westbrook, Psycho-Philosophical Issues Facing the Mens Rea Requirement for
Legal Culpability, 8 ALEXANDRIAN 77, 83-84 (2019).
2. Andrew McMillan & Dan Beedie, Foster Parent Pleads Guilty in Connection with
Child's Death in Pueblo, KRDO (Sept. 23, 2021, 5:36 PM), https://krdo.com/news/top-sto-
ries/2021 /09/23/foster-parent-pleads-guilty-in-connection-with-childs-death-in-pueblo/
[https://perma.cc/ECQ9-JHY3].
3. Id.
425](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/usflr56&div=23&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)