Legal Lunacy: Love Struck Astronaut's "I Left My Mind in Outer Space" Defense

Former Astronaut US Navy Captain Lisa Nowak pleads temporary insanity - as if she had a choice

The Charge: Attempted kidnapping with intent to inflict bodily harm AND battery AND burglary of a vehicle using a weapon.

The Alleged Victim: Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, the "romantic rival".

The Theory: The notorious Love Triangle

Facts at Issue: a 900 mile drive from Nowak's Texas home to Shipman's home state of Florida, recovery of soiled diapers, a mallet, a BB gun and a knife from Nowak's car, and Nowak's own statements to police that she drove simply to "confront Shipman" and wore the diapers to "cut down on the number of stops she needed to make."

The Problem: Meeting the stringent insanity defense standards.

One would have to be INSANE in this modern age if technology - iPhones, iPods, Blackberries and more - to drive 900 miles, or drive at all, to confront an alleged romantic rival when she could have simply phoned, text messaged, emailed or IMed her. That, however, is not grounds for an insanity defense.

This is where chess-style lawyering comes in handy. Fortunately for Ms. Nowak she has an advocate to do that, her attorney Don Lykkebak.

Lykkebak has reportedly requested of presiding Judge Lubet to "throw out Nowak's statements to police and suppress evidence collected from her car" on the basis that the statements were coerced under duress and that the search of Nowak's vehicle was conducted without permission and without a warrant, a clear violation of her 4^th Amendment rights protecting her from illegal search and seizure. Police contend that Nowak authorized the search. That's when the arresting officer found used diapers in the back seat and more, unused, diapers in the trunk.

Here's the thing, the diapers that police say were in Nowak's car were baby diapers, for a 1 year old. Not even Paris Hilton could fit into baby diapers, so how could Nowak?

Honestly, if Lykkebak wanted to fortify the insanity defense, he could allow the statements and the search. They can only help Dr. George Leventon and Dr. Dr. Richard Pesikoff, who will both be testifying on Nowak's behalf.