Page:Revised Codes of the State of North Dakota 1895.pdf/1495

Miscellaneous Provisions. CHAPTER 15.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

ARTICLE 1.- INQUIRING INTO THE INSANITY OP THE DEPENDANT BEFORE TRIAL OR AFTER CONVICTION.

§ 8398. Insane person cannot be tried or punished. An act done by a person in a state of insanity cannot be punished as a public offense. nor can a person be tried, adjudged to punishment or punished for a public offense, while he is insane.

§ 8399. Doubt arising, question to be tried. When a criminal action is called for trial, or at any time during the trial, or when the defendant is brought up for judgment on conviction, if a doubt arises as to the sanity of the defendant, the court must order the question as to his sanity to be submitted to a jury; and the trial or pronouncing of the judgment must be suspended until the question is determined by their verdict, and the trial jury may be discharged or retained, at the discretion of the court, during the pendency of the issue of insanity. The jury may be impaneled from the jurors summoned and returned for the term, if not discharged, or others may be summoned by direction of the court as provided in sections $135 to 8140, both inclusive.

§ 8400. Procedure and order of trial. The trial of the question of insanity must proceed in the following order:

1. The counsel for the defendant must open the case and offer evidence in support of the allegation of insanity.

2. The counsel for the state may then open its case and offer evidence in support thereof.

3. The parties may then respectively offer rebutting testimony only, unless the court, for good reason, in furtherance of justice, permits them to offer evidence upon their original case.

4. When the evidence is concluded, unless the case is submitted to the jury on either side or on both sides, without argument, the counsel for the state must commence, and the defendant or his counsel may conclude the argument to the jury.

5. If the action is for an offense punishable with death, two counsel on each side may argue the cause to the jury, in which case they must do so alternately. If it is for any other offense, the court may, in its discretion, restrict the argument to one counsel on each side.

6. The court must then charge the jury.

§ 8401. Charge of court. Sections applicable. The provisions of sections 8181 and 8183 in respect to the duty of the court upon questions of law, and of the jury upon questions of fact, and the provisions of section 8217 in respect to the charge of the court to the jury, upon the trial of an indictment or information, apply to the question of insanity.

§ 8402. If found sane, trial to proceed. If the jury find the defendant sane, the trial of the action must proceed, or judgment may be pronounced, as the case may be.

§ 8403. Defendant found insane. If the jury finds that the defendant is insane, the trial or judgment must be suspended until he becomes sane, and the court must order that he be, in the mean-

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