Tennessee Supreme Court allows sleepwalking defense to child molestation charge

[varkam]

I thought that this was pretty interesting because I work in the field of sleep (and, incidentally, in my crim law class last semester had a segment on sleepwalking). There is such a thing as a parasomnia that presents with sexual attributes, but AFAIK it's pretty rare.

Link

The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that a Nashville firefighter is entitled to present medical testimony that a sleepwalking disorder caused him to commit child sex abuse.

Adrian Leroy Scott II is facing trial on charges of raping a female relative in 2006, but claims he was asleep during the assaults and unaware of what he was doing.

The state filed a pretrial motion in Davidson County Criminal Court that excluded sleep expert Dr. J. Brevard Haynes' testimony saying it was "was not sufficiently trustworthy."

Haynes had diagnosed Scott with sleep parasomnia involving sexual behavior.

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruling Friday makes Hayes' testimony admissible in court. The case has been referred the case back to the Davidson County Criminal Court.