A patient with epilepsy charged with kidnapping, unlawful confinement, and assault causing bodily harm after seizures: Deficiencies in the legal system

Abstract

We report the rare case of a 34-year-old right-handed male who had drug-resistant epilepsy associated with a frontal cavernoma since the age of 13 who was convicted of criminal charges related to seizures. When he was 32 years old, he had a focal seizure with impaired awareness and then he tried to grab a 7-year-old girl who was in a car coming out from a dance class. He was arrested and taken to the police station. Later that day, the patient was being interrogated by a police officer when he had a hypermotor seizure at the end of the interview. He punched the policeman leading to multiple charges laid, including kidnapping, unlawful confinement, and assault causing bodily harm. He remained in jail for the next year and a half. During this time, he had epilepsy surgery for resection of the cavernoma. The patient was rendered seizure-free after resection of the cavernoma for one-year. Due to the occurrence of seizures before the alleged “kidnapping” and based upon his interview with the policeman, the patient was acquitted from all legal charges. We review available cases of non-homicidal criminality with a legal outcome in this article. Keywords: Epilepsy surgery, Crime, Aggression, Kidnaping, Legal outcome