The jury that heard Andrew Goldstein’s case was deadlocked—some jurors voted to convict and some voted him not guilty by reason of insanity. The deadlocked jury meant that another trial was necessary. This time, with Goldstein’s permission, his lawyers took him off his medication several weeks before he was to testify so that jurors could see the extent of his mental illness. However, his mental state at the time of trial could not be used to determine his mental state at the time he committed the crime. This strategy was very controversial, and the judge allowed it, provided that Goldstein be asked daily whether he wanted to receive medication and that he be given medication forcibly if he appeared to become not competent to stand trial (Rohde, 2000). Goldstein hit his social worker within several weeks of stopping his medication, which meant that he resumed taking it and did not take the stand. The jury found Goldstein guilty, although they acknowledged that he was mentally ill. They decided that he knew what he was doing when he threw Kendra Webdale onto the tracks, and that he knew it was wrong.
After his trial, Goldstein was sent to prison, where he was evaluated to determine whether he needed to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital to become stable. If so, once stable, he would be returned to prison. In such cases, hospitalizations are brief, only long enough to get the defendant well enough to return to prison. In 2006, 8 years after the murder, Goldstein’s conviction was overturned because of a technical misstep during the second trial. In a third trial, Goldstein’s lawyers entered a plea of guilty, with the understanding that he would serve 23 years in prison, followed by 5 years of psychiatric oversight and supervision after his release.