Code of Alabama
Ala. Code § 15-16-1 (2026)
Defense of Insanity to Be by Special Plea.
✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
When the defense of insanity is set up in any criminal prosecution, it must be by special plea, interposed at the time of arraignment and entered of record upon the docket of the court, which, in substance, shall be “not guilty by reason of insanity.” A plea of insanity shall not preclude the usual plea of the general issue, which shall not, however, put in issue the question of the irresponsibility of the accused by reason of his alleged insanity, this question being triable only under the special plea.
(Code 1896, §4939; Code 1907, §7176; Code 1923, §4573; Code 1940, T. 15, §423.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 1980–2010 · leading case: Williams v. State, 710 So. 2d 1276 (Ala. Crim. App. 1996).
Williams v. State, 710 So. 2d 1276 (Ala. Crim. App. 1996). “See § 13A-3-1; § 15-16-1. A number of states have enacted statutes providing for a verdict of guilty but mentally ill.”
Dotch v. State, 67 So. 3d 936 (Ala. Crim. App. 2010). “” § 15-16-1, Ala.Code 1975. As to verdict forms, Rule 23.”
Alexander v. State, 394 So. 2d 389 (Ala. Crim. App. 1980). “These *391 pleas were entered routinely without a factual investigation and without any evidence of insanity or incompetence in the past of the accused because not to enter the plea of not guilty by reason of insanity could constitute a waiver under Alabama procedure, § 15-16-1,…”
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