Alleged Serial Killer Considering the Insanity Plea

On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, 27-year old Danueal Drayton was arrested in North Hollywood, California with a bound 28-year-old woman whom he had reportedly raped and held against her will. He is also accused of strangling to death a Queens native, 29-year-old Samantha Stewart, and raping an unnamed victim in Brooklyn, New York. Since his arrest, he has claimed he has killed seven women nationwide, although, so far, this has not been confirmed.

Alleged serial killer Drayton has, in fact, said a number of things since his arrest, especially about his claimed mental illness. “My body did this, not my mind,” he reportedly told investigators. In an interview from his jail cell with the Daily News, Drayton said he suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. According to Drayton, he hears voices that make him do violent things.

Serial Killers and the Insanity Defense

If Danueal Drayton turns out to be a serial killer, he certainly won’t be the first to plead insanity. Jeffrey Dahmer, Kenneth Bianchi, Albert Fish and John Wayne Gacy are just a few who have gone down this road in an attempt to avoid hearing the executioner’s song. In fact, serial killers are more likely to plead Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity than other criminals (17% versus 1%) but much less likely to be successful (3% versus 25%)..