“When Dr. Sweeney says a person in a blackout cannot form intent, it is nothing less than a revolution in criminal justice.”　ーLee A. McCoy, LLD

Citing case after case, Dr. Sweeney makes the point that in a blackout, a person never forms any memory beyond the momentary. The police and prosecutors need to realize that without memory formation a person is incapable of intent. Even if caught at the scene, gun in hand, bodies all around, the most he can be charged with is manslaughter. He is incapable of planning and executing murder. He can only perform an impulsive, mindless act, totally unaware of doing it or knowing its consequences.

Dr. Sweeney asks: Can a person be held responsible for his actions while in an unconscious state? If a person does not know where he or she is, what time it is, where she is going, what she is saying or doing; if the person cannot remember anything beyond a moment, cannot learn, form intent or make a plan is she responsible for what she does? Can a person confess to actions he does not remember? Can a person even take the stand and testify about events which occurred while he or she was blacked out? If a suspect is blacked out when his Miranda rights were read and does not remember it, can anything he says be used against him?

But the guilty beware, It is virtually impossible to fake a blackout, although many have tried. Foolproof tests trip up malingerers every time.

It isn't just murder cases. Dr. Sweeney has been consulted in several rape cases. A woman wakes up in bed with a man. Perhaps he says how great the sex was. She doesn't remember any or very little of it, but she is appalled and charges rape. He claims he didn't know she had blacked out. She was a willing participant to him. Who is to be believed? It is a legal conundrum dependent on knowledge of blackouts.