Dimitri Vernet, edited by Christopher Faleyras
The Bayonne prosecutor should open this Friday a judicial investigation for premeditated murder against the high school student who stabbed his Spanish teacher last Wednesday in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. A doctor will have to determine the mental state of the young man through a forensic psychiatric expertise. But what does it consist of? Europe 1 takes stock.
A judicial investigation for premeditated murder could be opened this Friday against the teenager who stabbed his Spanish teacher on Wednesday in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The Bayonne prosecutor could request the placement of the young man in pre-trial detention and appoint an investigating judge. The mental state of the high school student should also be submitted to a forensic psychiatric assessment. What does it consist of? Europe 1 takes stock.
Carried out by a doctor, a forensic psychiatric expertise aims to answer the essential question: was the defendant in full possession of his means when he took action?
Looking for Mental Illnesses
Through the expertise, the psychiatrist therefore seeks the existence of a mental illness such as schizophrenia, paranoid psychosis or even chronic delirium. Then he wonders if this pathology appeared at the time of the facts. This is the most important since some criminals can suffer from personality disorders without having lost their minds. If the doctor believes that the patient was not master of himself, this opens the way to criminal irresponsibility. Other expertise may also be required, and they are sometimes even contradictory. But in any case, in the end, this penal irresponsibility is ruled by the judge.
Thursday, February 23, during his press conference, the Bayonne prosecutor said that the 16-year-old student in police custody is “accessible to criminal liability”. The psychiatric expertise is therefore decisive for the judicial future of this mis en cause.