--- title: ‘Caffeine Intoxication’ as Mental Disorder and Legal Defense description: On Monday, a lawyer for a 33 year-old Kentucky man who allegedly strangled his wife with an extension cord used "caffeine intoxication" as his client's... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7144192/caffeine-intoxication-as-mental-disorder-and-legal-defense/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2010-09-21T14:30:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:33:32.322Z article:section: Health og:title: ‘Caffeine Intoxication’ as Mental Disorder and Legal Defense og:description: On Monday, a lawyer for a 33 year-old Kentucky man who allegedly strangled his wife with an extension cord used "caffeine intoxication" as his client's... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7144192/caffeine-intoxication-as-mental-disorder-and-legal-defense/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted36029d1068a9d9/698a955cb3fce3b1180d363e/caffeinecropped.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 307 og:image:height: 173 og:image:alt: TO GO WITH AFP STORY-LIFESTYLE-US-DRINK- og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ‘Caffeine Intoxication’ as Mental Disorder and Legal Defense twitter:description: On Monday, a lawyer for a 33 year-old Kentucky man who allegedly strangled his wife with an extension cord used "caffeine intoxication" as his client's... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted36029d1068a9d9/698a955cb3fce3b1180d363e/caffeinecropped.jpg?branch=production&width=307&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # 'Caffeine Intoxication' as Mental Disorder and Legal Defense > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=4a306be2-5e36-4d81-a914-b7bab891d3e4&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Sep 21, 2010 2:30 PM UTC  San Diego, UNITED STATES: TO GO WITH AFP STORY-LIFESTYLE-US-DRINK-SECTOR-HEALTH Cans of energy drinks are displayed in a store in San Diego, California 10 November 2006\. The kick from caffeine has a growing number of consumers jumping into energy drinks-soft drinks spiked with nutritional aids and stimulants despite warnings from health professionals. The drinks are often aimed at the youth market with edgy names like Rockstar and Full Throttle, and the provocatively named Cocaine Energy Drink, which despite its name contains no illegal ingredients. The typical energy drink sells for two dollars or more per can or bottle, well above the average price of traditional soft drinks. AFP PHOTO/Earl S. CRYER (Photo credit should read EARL S.CRYER/AFP/Getty Images) San Diego, UNITED STATES: TO GO WITH AFP STORY-LIFESTYLE-US-DRINK-SECTOR-HEALTH Cans of energy drinks are displayed in a store in San Diego, California 10 November 2006\. The kick from caffeine has a growing number of consumers jumping into energy drinks-soft drinks spiked with nutritional aids and stimulants despite warnings from health professionals. The drinks are often aimed at the youth market with edgy names like Rockstar and Full Throttle, and the provocatively named Cocaine Energy Drink, which despite its name contains no illegal ingredients. The typical energy drink sells for two dollars or more per can or bottle, well above the average price of traditional soft drinks. AFP PHOTO/Earl S. CRYER (Photo credit should read EARL S.CRYER/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images—2006 AFP by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Sep 21, 2010 2:30 PM UTC On Monday, a lawyer for a 33 year-old Kentucky man who allegedly strangled his wife with an extension cord used “caffeine intoxication” as his client’s defense. moreAt first, a deposition claimed that caffeine, from a steady diet of energy drinks and diet pills, had [rendered Woody Will Smith temporarily insane](http://hosted2.ap.org/COGRA/APUSnews/Article%5F2010-09-20-US-Caffeine-Defense/id-3824fbd756b747e7b42186f4350f7e3b) as he carried out the murder. But then in [papers filed Monday night](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap%5Fon%5Fre%5Fus/us%5Fcaffeine%5Fdefense) caffeine was blamed instead for compelling Smith to falsely confess to the murder. This isn’t the first time that caffeine intoxication has been used as a criminal defense, as our colleague Megan Gibson [pointed out on Newsfeed](http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/09/20/too-much-caffeine-the-new-murder-defense/?iid=nfmostpopular). So is it legit? (**More on Time.com:** [Training Your Brain to Learn Better (Even Without Drugs)](http://healthland.time.com/2010/09/07/using-brains-to-study-better/)) Given the shifting defense strategy, it’s understandable that onlookers would be incredulous, but caffeine intoxication is one of four valid caffeine-induced mental disorders classified in the current edition of the _Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders_ (DSM-IV-TR)_._ According to a [specialist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center](http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/290113-overview), the DSM-IV-TR clinical definition of caffeine intoxication is as follows: --- > “” --- No one can know if this disorder, in combination with a caffeine-induced sleep disorder, caused temporary psychosis in Smith. But it’s interesting in itself that the man had such a high cumulative level of caffeine in his daily diet — most people don’t think about toxicity thresholds for caffeine, which is the world’s favorite stimulant and, after petroleum, the most traded substance worldwide. (**More on Time.com:** [Have We Created Too Many Rules for Pregnancy?](http://healthland.time.com/2010/06/17/have-we-created-too-many-rules-for-pregnancy/)) While a few cups of joe won’t make a person murderous, it’s important to note that we are ingesting caffeine in ever greater quantities — certainly more than nature intended — thanks to diet pills, sodas and energy drinks like Red Bull and [Cocaine](http://www.drinkcocaine.com/). If nothing else, Smith’s case may make us a bit more mindful of our milligrams when we’re looking for a pick-me-up. **More on Time.com:** [PHOTOS: Cultivating South America’s Favorite Drink](http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1921010,00.html) [Is Stumptown the New Starbucks?](http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1970653,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144192/caffeine-intoxication-as-mental-disorder-and-legal-defense/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144192/caffeine-intoxication-as-mental-disorder-and-legal-defense/"},"headline":"'Caffeine Intoxication' as Mental Disorder and Legal Defense","datePublished":"2010-09-21T14:30:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:33:32.322Z","description":"On Monday, a lawyer for a 33 year-old Kentucky man who allegedly strangled his wife with an extension cord used \"caffeine intoxication\" as his client's...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7144192/caffeine-intoxication-as-mental-disorder-and-legal-defense/","keywords":["Caffeine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted36029d1068a9d9/698a955cb3fce3b1180d363e/caffeinecropped.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted36029d1068a9d9/698a955cb3fce3b1180d363e/caffeinecropped.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TO GO WITH AFP STORY-LIFESTYLE-US-DRINK-","caption":"TO GO WITH AFP STORY-LIFESTYLE-US-DRINK-","creditText":"AFP/Getty Images—2006 AFP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7144192/caffeine-intoxication-as-mental-disorder-and-legal-defense/","name":"'Caffeine Intoxication' as Mental Disorder and Legal Defense"}}]}] ```