Steven Steinberg Case

In 1981 a Scottsdale, Arizona man named Steven Steinberg was accused of
murdering his wife, Elena, with a kitchen knife. She was stabbed 26 times. The
trial took place in Maricopa County Superior Court in 1982. Steinberg
acknowledged the murder, claimed he did it while sleepwalking, and therefore was
not sane at the time. Dr. Martin Blinder, a California psychiatrist, testified
that the murder was committed under a scenario of "dissociative reaction," when
Steinberg stabbed repeatedly stabbed his wife.
Steinberg didn't deny the fact that he had killed her, but he pleaded 'not
guilty' because he claimed not to remember the crime. He was sleeping, and must
have been sleepwalking at the time. Steinberg was found innocent by the jury, on
the ground he was temporarily insane when he killed his wife. He walked away a
free man.
Should Steinberg have gone to jail? Whether or not he remembered the act, he
had murdered his wife. Was the fact he did it while asleep a rational
defense? Was it even true? Diana Lindstrom-McClure, part of Steinberg's legal
team, believed him. In a newspaper article she was quoted as saying she doesn't
feel that he pulled the wool over anyone's eyes. "He was just a nice guy," she
said.
Members of the jury were quoted as stating they made the correct decision.
Even though they knew they were letting a murderer go, they felt they had no
choice. They believed Steinberg was sleep walking and therefore not responsible.

But why did he go free? If he was "temporarily insane" at the time, was he
"sane" at the time of trial? As explained in a 1998 Phoenix New Times
article:

Many people who were in Arizona in the early 1980s recall Arizona's most
famous-- or infamous--"sleepwalking" case. In that one, Scottsdale resident
Steven Steinberg stabbed his wife, Elana, 26 times, then told police that
intruders had killed her during a burglary gone awry. But the evidence
implicated Steinberg, and police arrested him on a murder charge. At trial, his
attorney called witnesses to testify that Steinberg may have been sleepwalking
or in a short-lived "dissociative" mental state when he stabbed his wife.
Defense attorney Bob Hirsh alleged that Steinberg's "Jewish American
Princess" wife had driven him mad with nagging and spending too much money. A
jury found Steinberg not guilty on the grounds that he was temporarily insane
when he'd killed her. Because he was deemed "sane" at the time of his acquittal,
Steinberg walked out of court a free man.
Things are different now under Arizona law. Since 1994, judges have had to
impose "guilty but insane" sentences in cases that formerly fell under the old
"temporary insanity" model. These days, a person found guilty but insane must
serve a sentence at a mental institution that may be as long as if they were
sentenced to prison.