As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Department" means the Department of Corrections;
(2) "Examiner" means a psychologist or psychiatrist who examines, treats, or reports
on a defendant's mental condition as required by this chapter;
(3) "Forensic psychiatric facility" means a mental institution or facility, or part thereof,
designated by the secretary for the purpose and function of providing inpatient
evaluation, care, and treatment for mentally ill persons or individuals with an
intellectual disability who have been charged with or convicted of a felony;
(4) "Foreseeable future" means not more than three hundred sixty (360) days;
(5) "Incompetency to stand trial" means, as a result of mental condition, lack of
capacity to appreciate the nature and consequences of the proceedings against one
or to participate rationally in one's own defense;
(6) "Individual with an intellectual disability" means an individual with significantly
subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in
adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period and is a
condition which may exist concurrently with mental illness or insanity;
(7) "Insanity" means, as a result of mental condition, lack of substantial capacity either
to appreciate the criminality of one's conduct or to conform one's conduct to the
requirements of law;
(8) "Mental illness" means substantially impaired capacity to use self-control,
judgment, or discretion in the conduct of one's affairs and social relations,
associated with maladaptive behavior or recognized emotional symptoms where
impaired capacity, maladaptive behavior, or emotional symptoms can be related to
physiological, psychological, or social factors;
(9) "Psychiatrist" means a physician licensed pursuant to KRS Chapter 311 who is
certified or eligible to apply for certification by the American Board of Psychiatry
and Neurology, Inc.;
(10) "Psychologist" means a person licensed at the doctoral level pursuant to KRS
Chapter 319 who has been designated by the Kentucky Board of Examiners of
Psychology as competent to perform examinations;
(11) "Secretary" means the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services;
(12) "Treatment" means medication or counseling, therapy, psychotherapy, and other
professional services provided by or at the direction of psychologists or
psychiatrists. "Treatment" shall not include electroshock therapy or psychosurgery;
and
(13) "Treatment facility" means an institution or part thereof, approved by the Cabinet
for Health and Family Services, which provides evaluation, care, and treatment for
insane or mentally ill persons or individuals with an intellectual disability on an
inpatient or outpatient basis.
Effective: July 15, 2024
History: Amended 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 138, sec. 2, effective July 15, 2024. -- Amended
2012 Ky. Acts ch. 146, sec. 121, effective July 12, 2012. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts
ch. 99, sec. 653, effective June 20, 2005. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 426, sec.
605, effective July 15, 1998. -- Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 211, sec. 131, effective
July 14, 1992. -- Amended 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 139, sec. 15, effective July 15, 1988. --
Amended 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 331, sec. 57, effective July 15, 1986. -- Created 1982
Ky. Acts ch. 113, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982.
Legislative Research Commission Note (7/15/2024). Under the authority of KRS 7.136,
the reviser of statutes has changed the internal numbering of this statute to place the
definitions in alphabetical order. The words in the statute were not changed.
Legislative Research Commission Note (7/15/2024). 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 138, sec. 7,
provides that the Act, which amended this section and KRS 311.631, 504.070,
504.080, 504.100, and 504.110, may be cited as Seth's Law.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
35
cases (
10 in the last 5 years), 1985–2026 · leading case:
Caudill v. Commonwealth, 120 S.W.3d 635 (Ky. 2003).
Caudill v. Commonwealth, 120 S.W.3d 635 (Ky. 2003).
· cites it 2× “080(2); KRS 504.060(5); KRS 504.120(3); KRS 532.025(2)(b)(7).”
Dean v. Commonwealth, 777 S.W.2d 900 (Ky. 1989).
· cites it 4× “" KRS 504.060(4). It is possible that a defendant found competent to stand trial might be unable to comprehend the consequences of choosing not to use the insanity defense, thus rendering the defendant incapable of intelligently waiving the defense.”
Mills v. Commonwealth, 996 S.W.2d 473 (Ky. 1999).
· cites it 2× “One month later, the trial court entered an order of psychiatric evaluation which required a psychiatric examination to determine whether Mills was: (1) incompetent *486 to stand trial as defined by KRS 504.060(4); and (2) insane as defined by KRS 504.”
McClellan v. Commonwealth, 715 S.W.2d 464 (Ky. 1986).
· cites it 2× “KRS 504.060 defines "insanity" to mean "that, as a result of mental condition," one lacks "substantial capacity .”
Dunlap v. Commonwealth, 435 S.W.3d 537 (Ky. 2013).
· cites it 2× “060(6) defines mental illness as “substantially impaired capacity to use self-control, judgment, or discretion in the conduct of one’s affairs and social relations, associated with maladaptive behavior or recognized emotional symptoms where impaired capacity, maladaptive…”
Commonwealth v. Wooten, 269 S.W.3d 857 (Ky. 2008).
· cites it 4× “"`Incompetency to stand trial' means, as a result of mental condition, lack of capacity to appreciate the nature and consequences of the proceedings against one or to participate rationally in one's own defense.”
Commonwealth v. Trill, 543 A.2d 1106 (Pa. 1988).
· cites it 2× “1986); Ky.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§ 504.060(5), 504.120, 504.”
Bishop v. Caudill, 118 S.W.3d 159 (Ky. 2003).
· cites it 2× “KRS 504.060 defines these concepts as follows: (4) "Incompetency to stand trial" means, as a result of a mental condition, lack of capacity to appreciate the nature and consequences of the proceedings against one or to participate rationally in one's own defense; (5) "Insanity"…”
Lickliter v. Commonwealth, 142 S.W.3d 65 (Ky. 2004).
· cites it 4× “Pursuant to KRS 504.060(5), Insanity "means that, as a result of mental condition, lack of substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of one's conduct or to conform one's conduct to the requirements of law.”
Chapman v. Commonwealth, 265 S.W.3d 156 (Ky. 2008).
· cites it 2× “[49] KRS 504.060(4); see also Dusky v. United States, 362 U.”
Keeling v. Commonwealth, 381 S.W.3d 248 (Ky. 2012).
“060(4) provides: “ ‘Incompetency to stand trial’ means, as a result of mental condition, lack of capacity to appreciate the nature and consequences of the proceedings against one or to participate rationally in one’s own defense.”
Stanford v. Commonwealth, 793 S.W.2d 112 (Ky. 1990).
“Mental illness is broadly defined in KRS 504.060(6) and includes many of the concepts contained in the excluded testimony.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 504.060(2) — 1 case
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 504.060(3) — 2 cases
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 504.060(4) — 16 cases
Commonwealth v. Wooten, 269 S.W.3d 857 (Ky. 2008).
“"`Incompetency to stand trial' means, as a result of mental condition, lack of capacity to appreciate the nature and consequences of the proceedings against one or to participate rationally in one's own defense.”
Dean v. Commonwealth, 777 S.W.2d 900 (Ky. 1989).
“" KRS 504.060(4). It is possible that a defendant found competent to stand trial might be unable to comprehend the consequences of choosing not to use the insanity defense, thus rendering the defendant incapable of intelligently waiving the defense.”
Mills v. Commonwealth, 996 S.W.2d 473 (Ky. 1999).
“One month later, the trial court entered an order of psychiatric evaluation which required a psychiatric examination to determine whether Mills was: (1) incompetent *486 to stand trial as defined by KRS 504.060(4); and (2) insane as defined by KRS 504.”
Keeling v. Commonwealth, 381 S.W.3d 248 (Ky. 2012).
“060(4) provides: “ ‘Incompetency to stand trial’ means, as a result of mental condition, lack of capacity to appreciate the nature and consequences of the proceedings against one or to participate rationally in one’s own defense.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 504.060(5) — 9 cases
Caudill v. Commonwealth, 120 S.W.3d 635 (Ky. 2003).
“080(2); KRS 504.060(5); KRS 504.120(3); KRS 532.025(2)(b)(7).”
Lickliter v. Commonwealth, 142 S.W.3d 65 (Ky. 2004).
“Pursuant to KRS 504.060(5), Insanity "means that, as a result of mental condition, lack of substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of one's conduct or to conform one's conduct to the requirements of law.”
Mills v. Commonwealth, 996 S.W.2d 473 (Ky. 1999).
“One month later, the trial court entered an order of psychiatric evaluation which required a psychiatric examination to determine whether Mills was: (1) incompetent *486 to stand trial as defined by KRS 504.060(4); and (2) insane as defined by KRS 504.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 504.060(6) — 6 cases
Dunlap v. Commonwealth, 435 S.W.3d 537 (Ky. 2013).
“060(6) defines mental illness as “substantially impaired capacity to use self-control, judgment, or discretion in the conduct of one’s affairs and social relations, associated with maladaptive behavior or recognized emotional symptoms where impaired capacity, maladaptive…”
Dean v. Commonwealth, 777 S.W.2d 900 (Ky. 1989).
“" KRS 504.060(4). It is possible that a defendant found competent to stand trial might be unable to comprehend the consequences of choosing not to use the insanity defense, thus rendering the defendant incapable of intelligently waiving the defense.”
Stanford v. Commonwealth, 793 S.W.2d 112 (Ky. 1990).
“Mental illness is broadly defined in KRS 504.060(6) and includes many of the concepts contained in the excluded testimony.”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 504.060(7) — 3 cases
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 504.060(9) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.