[82lsju]

Stanford University law school professor Robert Weisberg believes Holmes has two potential avenues for a mental-condition defense: claiming her judgment was affected or that she acted under duress. If the former, her argument “will be laid out in terms of something like her mental distress clouded her judgment so she didn’t truly form the intent to commit the crimes” perhaps because of an “overwrought or emotional state” that meant she didn’t think through the possibility that others could be harmed, Weisberg said. “You have to somehow connect the dots that the state of emotional distress … made it psychologically impossible to form the intent,” he said.

If Mechanic is to testify that Holmes acted under duress, Weisberg and other legal experts said the psychologist may focus on Holmes’ relationship with Balwani. “There may be some kind of effort at a ‘Svengali defense,'” Weisberg said, referring to a legal tactic named for a seductive, domineering character from a 19th century novel. “It would have to be in support of the claim that she was facing an immediate and extremely specific threat that harm would come to her if she didn’t do the criminal acts.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/11/d...=Geotagged

[82lsju]

Stanford University law school professor Robert Weisberg believes Holmes has two potential avenues for a mental-condition defense: claiming her judgment was affected or that she acted under duress. If the former, her argument “will be laid out in terms of something like her mental distress clouded her judgment so she didn’t truly form the intent to commit the crimes” perhaps because of an “overwrought or emotional state” that meant she didn’t think through the possibility that others could be harmed, Weisberg said. “You have to somehow connect the dots that the state of emotional distress … made it psychologically impossible to form the intent,” he said.

If Mechanic is to testify that Holmes acted under duress, Weisberg and other legal experts said the psychologist may focus on Holmes’ relationship with Balwani. “There may be some kind of effort at a ‘Svengali defense,'” Weisberg said, referring to a legal tactic named for a seductive, domineering character from a 19th century novel. “It would have to be in support of the claim that she was facing an immediate and extremely specific threat that harm would come to her if she didn’t do the criminal acts.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/11/d...=Geotagged