Insane caffeine buzz....

Husband accused of murdering his wife claims insanity by caffeine as defence

By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE
Last updated at 5:42 PM on 20th September 2010

Unusual defence: Mugshot of Woody Will Smith, accused of murdering his wife by strangling her with an extension cord in May 2009

A man accused of strangling his wife is poised to claim an intake of excessive caffeine rendered him temporarily insane on the night of the murder.

Woody Will Smith, 33, says he had so many sodas, energy drinks and diet pills that he he couldn't have knowingly killed his wife, Amanda, 28.

Police say Smith used an extension cord to strangle his wife, then used the same cord to bind her feet together. Smith then used another cord to tie his wife's hands.

Defence attorney Shannon Sexton filed notice with the court in Newport, Kentucky, of plans to argue that caffeine made his client unable to commit the crime.

Woody Smith had been having trouble sleeping in the run-up to May 4, 2009, partly out of fear that his wife would leave him and take their two young sons.

In the weeks preceding the murder, Smith told Dr. Robert Noelker, a psychologist from Williamstown hired by the defence, that he hadn't been sleeping, in part out of fear his wife would take their two children and leave him.

Smith told he remembers taking his children to school on the morning of May 4, 2009.

But Smith remembers little else about the ensuing hours.

'The next several hours of Mr. Smith's life, were described to me as if he were in a daze,' Noelker wrote in a report.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313649/Husband-accused-murdering-wife-claims-insanity-caffeine-defence.html#ixzz106UoNFJy