Cite as: 504 U. S. 71 (1992)
Kennedy, J., dissenting
chased them out of their home and fired on police officers who confronted him as he fled. Id., at 1-2. Petitioner was apprehended and charged with aggravated burglary and the illegal use of a weapon in violation of La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 14:60 and 14:94 (West 1986). 563 So. 2d 1138, 1138-1139 (La. 1990). There is no question that petitioner committed the criminal acts charged. Petitioner's response was to deny criminal responsibility based on his mental illness when he committed the acts. He contended his mental illness prevented him from distinguishing between right and wrong with regard to the conduct in question.
Mental illness may bear upon criminal responsibility, as a general rule, in either of two ways: First, it may preclude the formation of mens rea, if the disturbance is so profound that it prevents the defendant from forming the requisite intent as defined by state law; second, it may support an affirmative plea of legal insanity. See W. LaFave & A. Scott, Jr., 1 Substantive Criminal Law § 4.1(b), pp. 429-430 (1986) (hereinafter LaFave & Scott). Depending on the content of state law, the first possibility may implicate the State's initial burden, under In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358, 364 (1970), to prove every element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt, while the second possibility does not. Patterson v. New York, 432 U. S. 197, 206 (1977); Leland v. Oregon, 343 U. S. 790, 795-796 (1952).
The power of the States to determine the existence of
criminal insanity following the establishment of the underlying offense is well established. In Leland v. Oregon, we upheld a state law that required the defendant to prove insanity beyond a reasonable doubt, observing that this burden had no effect on the State's initial burden to prove every element of the underlying criminal offense.
"[T]he burden of proof of guilt, and of all the necessary elements of guilt, was placed squarely upon the State. As the jury was told, this burden did not shift, but rested upon the State throughout the trial, just as, ac-
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