Apr 15, 2016

Role reversal in Phase 2 of Bullock jury trial that starts today

Gary Bullock was found guilty of all charges and special allegations earlier this week.

Since he entered another plea of not guilty by insanity, today Phase 2 of the trial starts.

The burden of proof is now on the defense to prove by a preponderance of evidence that Bullock was legally insane at the time he tortured and murdered Fr. Eric Freed.

Three expert witnesses who evaluated Bullock are expected to testify; two were court appointed.

In California, the M'Naghten rule or the insanity defense is used to determine a defendant's sanity or insanity.

After jury instructions, the defense will present their opening statement, then the prosecution can or the People can wait to do so at the beginning of their case, after the defense has rested.


After evidence has been presented, the defense gets to present a closing argument and rebuttal; the prosecution only gets one chance for closing.

Mr. Allan Dollision, who was a public defender in another County, before moving to Humboldt County mentioned a case in which he defended someone who plead not guilty  by insanity. People v Walker.

Mr. Collision was a former Deputy District Attorney with the Humboldt County District Attorney's office and is now in private practice.


Locally, he cited the Applegate case.

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