ATLANTA (AP) — In the prosecution of a Georgia woman who caused a fatal car crash while suffering a psychotic break, the state cannot use evidence that she had stopped taking some of her psychiatric medications to counter her insanity defense, the state’s highest court ruled Wednesday.
Michelle Wierson was driving her Volkswagen Tiguan at high speed through the streets of DeKalb County, in Atlanta’s suburbs, when she hit a Toyota Corolla stopped at a traffic light. The impact pushed the car into the intersection, where it collided with another car. Miles Jenness, a 5-year-old passenger in the Toyota, suffered a traumatic brain injury and a severed spine and died days later.
Everyone agrees that Wierson caused the September 2018 wreck. Her defense attorneys filed notice that she intended to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, saying that at the time of the wreck she was suffering from a “delusional compulsion” caused by mental illness that absolves her of criminal liability. The DeKalb County district attorney’s office wanted to present evidence that Wierson had stopped taking some medication prescribed to treat bipolar disorder, arguing that the jury should be allowed to consider that she voluntarily contributed to her mental state…