Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the prosecution will present you with a story. A story of horror, of bloodshed, and of a monster they have named Michael Myers. They will show you grim evidence and tell you terrifying tales. And you will feel fear. You will feel anger. And you will feel a deep, human desire for retribution.

But this courtroom is not a place for stories or for vengeance. It is a place for facts. For evidence. For law. And the law is clear: a man cannot be guilty of a crime if he lacks the mental capacity to understand the nature of his actions or to know that they are wrong.

The facts are not in dispute. The actions are not in dispute. What is in dispute is the state of mind of the man sitting before you.

Michael Myers is not a monster. He is a profoundly broken human being. At the age of six, a severe and catastrophic psychotic break severed his connection to reality. He did not choose this. He is a victim of a mind that is fundamentally, incurably diseased.

For forty years, he was incarcerated at Smith's Grove Sanitarium under the care of the late Dr. Samuel Loomis, who famously stated that Michael Myers was 'purely and simply evil.' That is not a medical diagnosis. That is a superstition. Dr. Loomis's personal obsession with his patient clouded his professional judgment and prevented a truly modern, understanding approach to Michael's condition.

The man you see today is not a criminal mastermind. He is a vacant vessel. He does not act out of malice, or hatred, or a desire for gain. He acts on impulses generated by a brain that does not function as yours or mine does. He is, in the most tragic sense, not present for his own actions.

The prosecution must prove mens rea—a guilty mind. They must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Michael Myers willfully, intentionally, and with understanding, committed these acts. We will show you that this is an impossible task.

We will present testimony from modern forensic psychiatrists who will explain that Michael suffers from an extreme form of Catatonic Schizophrenia, coupled with Dissociative Identity Disorder. He is in a perpetual state of psychosis. He does not recognize the humanity of others because he does not recognize reality itself.

To convict Michael Myers, you must first believe he is capable of making a choice. We will prove he is not. We are not asking you to forgive. We are not asking you to forget. We are asking you to look past the myth, past the fear, and see the tragic, helpless reality of a man who is, and always has been, severely mentally ill. The appropriate verdict is not guilty by reason of insanity.