The brain on trial: the Weinstein case and the images that changed the verdict

In 1991, Herbert Weinstein killed his wife Barbara Weinstein and threw her body from the 12th floor of the apartment in which they lived, immediately confessing the incident to the police. Subsequent analysis of his brain revealed the presence of a voluminous cerebral cysts at the level of the front lobewhich according to the defense would have conditioned the aggressive behavior of man. Thanks to the tests obtained through cerebral imagingthe accusation accepted an agreement with the defense, obtaining one reduction of the penalty reclassify the crime in manslaughter. The case was a forerunner to the use of the neuroscience In the legal system, opening the way to similar cases documented also in Italy.

Barbara Weinstein lost her life falling from her apartment: the reconstruction of the murder

New York, 7 January 1991. It was 13:30 in the afternoon when the Manhattan police station received one dramatic report: the body of Barbara Weinstein56 years old, was lifeless on the road after having rushed from the 12th floor of his apartment On the 72nd East road, near Central Park. The dynamics of the accident let a suicide. Still, nothing in the woman’s life seemed to justify such a tragedy. Years earlier he had married Herbert Weinsteina rich retired advertising manager, with whom he formed, at least apparently, a serene couple. Just the man, at the news of the tragic episode, reacted with an almost irreverent calm and, at the time of the interrogation, he revealed without hesitation and with making the calm theatrocious truth: Barbara hadn’t taken her life. It was he who strangled her and, after having beaten it, a Throw it into the void by stageing suicide.

The news shocked public opinion. On the other hand, Herbert Weinstein was known to all as a charming man, calm And charismatic. But above all, it was a incurable optimistalways able to see “the donut rather than the hole”, described by his daughter as Unable to experience negative emotions or anxiety for the future. To this unusual behavior accompanied atotal absence of empathy for the emotions of others and a ruthless cynicism. These aspects of his character with time yes they were sharpto the point that in the months following the murder, Herbert’s attitude began to appear hopelessly disturbing. During house arrest, waiting for the trial, he did not show any sign of repentance for the murder of his wife or of worry for one’s own destiny. Indeed, he took the opportunity to make up for a life by marrying a woman known at that time.

Herbert Weinstein’s brain in courtroom: the process

THE’admission Herbert Weinstein left no room for other slopes. The man was accused of second degree murderthat is, voluntary, a crime punishable by law with a sentence up tolife imprisonment. Still, Herbert continued not to show any concern for his future, continuing to face life with the usual tireless optimism And good mood. A behavior so inappropriately calm to be unnatural Even in the eyes of family members. It was precisely this strangeness that pushed his lawyer to request one psychiatric expertisea common practice in judicial cases, often used by the defense to establish whether an alteration of the mental health can influence behavior of an individual and, consequently, open the way to a reduction in the sentence.

Unlike the past, however, this time something had changed. The neuroscience and the Imaging techniques cerebral they had reached such a development as to allow a‘detailed analysis of the brainof its structure and metabolic activity. Weinstein was then subjected to Pet exams (positron emission tomography) e magnetic resonance imaging (RM), which allow respectively to observe the functionality and structure of the brain. The results were impressive: the left front lobe it was completely covered by one cysts from the size of anorangewhich had compromised its normal operation. This biological evidence was perfectly consistent with the unusual behavior by man. The front lobe, in fact, plays a crucial role in control of emotionsin the’Inhibition of impulsiveness and in ability of judgment (i.e. the ability to evaluate situations, make aware decisions and predict the consequences of one’s actions), all of the functions evidently altered in Weinstein.

The neuroscientific evidence they completely overturned the verdict. The defense believed that the reduced self -control capacity and the violent of Weinstein exhibited in the episode of the murder were in part independent of his willbeing induced by brain deficit. These arguments seemed so convincing that they pushed the defense to tighten an agreement with the accusation, accepting the reclassification of the murder of Barbara da culpable volunteergetting a clear lightening of the sentence. In the end, Weinstein served around 12 years in prison, To then be released in a conditioned freedom.

The birth of forensic neurosciences and the Italian case of the “warrior gene”

Weinstein’s murder was the first case in the United States where a judge accepted the use of cerebral imaging tests To justify the criminal behavior of a defendant, marking a forerunner to the use of neuroscience in jurisprudence. Since then, in fact, neuroscientific evidence were successfully adopted in numerous cases to demonstrate themental illness of the defendants, allowing them to obtain significant discounts of sentence. An emblematic case occurred in Italy in 2009, when the Defense of Abdelmalek Bayout succeeded in reduce the sentence of one’s assisted thanks to a neuroscientific expertise and one genetic test. The man, condemned for murder, was in fact the bearer of a particular variant with low activity of the so -called “Warrior gene“(Maoa, monoamine oxidase of type A), a gene involved in the metabolism of key neurotransmitters in the regulation of behavior such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Studies conducted on animal models and on man had shown that the low -activity variant of this gene, especially in individuals with a difficult experience, was associated with one greater predisposition to show impulsive and violent behaviors. Just this genetic test (accompanied to a detailed psychiatric expertise) was the key to convince the judge to reduce the sentence assigned in Bayout, placing a milestone for the use of neuroscience and of the behavioral genetics in forensic practice in Italy.