Literature
In Bram Stokers novel Dracula, the character Lucy Westenra is described as a sleepwalker. It is while sleepwalking that Count Dracula lures and attacks her. Sleepwalking as a legal defense
As sleepwalking behaviours occur without volition, sleepwalking can be used as a legal defense, as a form of legal automatism. An individual can be accused of non-insane or insane automatism. The first is used as a defense for temporary insanity or involuntary conduct, resulting in acquittal. The latter results in a "special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity." This verdict of insanity can result in a court order to attend a mental institution.In the 1963 case Bratty v A-G for Northern Ireland, Lord Morris stated, "Each set of facts must require a careful examination of its own circumstances, but if by way of taking an illustration it were considered possible for a person to walk in his sleep and to commit a violent crime while genuinely unconscious, then such a person would not be criminally liable for that act." While the veracity of the cases are disputed, there have been acts of homicide where the prime suspect may have committed the act while sleepwalking. Alternative explanations to homicidal or violent sleepwalking include malingering, drug-induced amnesia, and other disorders in which sleep-related violence may occur, such as REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, fugue states, and episodic wandering. Historical cases
1846, Albert Tirrell used sleepwalking as a defense against charges of murdering Maria Bickford, a prostitute living in a Boston brothel.
The court convicted Reitz of first-degree murder in 2004. In 2001, Antonio Nieto murdered his wife and mother-in-law and attempted to murder his daughter and son, before being disarmed. Nieto claimed to have been asleep during the attack and dreaming that he was defending himself against aggressive ostriches. However, his children stated that he had recognized them and had told his son to not turn on the lights because their mother (gravely injured already) was sleeping. In 2007, Nieto was sentenced to 10 years internment in a psychiatric hospital and ordered to pay 171,100 euros as compensation to the victims. Jules Lowe confessed to causing the death of his father Edward in 2004, but did not remember committing the act. Jules used automatism as his defense, and was found not guilty by reason of insanity and detained indefinitely in a secure hospital. He was released after ten months. Brian Thomas was accused of killing his wife in 2008 while dreaming that he was fighting off intruders. He was freed in 2009 by a judge, who found him not guilty of murder. See also
Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder

References
Sources
Walker, N., Crime and Insanity in England Volume One: The Historical Perspective, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (1968)

External links

 Media related to Sleepwalking at Wikimedia Commons