The dumbbell defense is the legal strategy of blaming criminal acts on the psychological effects of anabolic steroids. The criminal defenses of steroid addiction and steroid-induced cognitive deficits and steroid facilitated rage reaction are all variations of the “dumbbell defense. Most of the time, judges and juries reject being “pumped full of steroids” as a legitimate excuse absolving a defendant of responsibility for a crime. But sometimes it works.
The dumbbell defense was successful in the case of Michael D. Williams, who was a competitive bodybuilder in the 1980s that broke into six homes and set fire to three of them. Williams was acquitted of his crimes because the judge believed “toxic levels of anabolic steroids” resulted in a mental disorder which meant he could not be criminally responsible for his actions.
The case of Maryland vs. Michael D. Williams (1986) was cited by Yesalis and Bahrke in their article on the psychological and behavioral effects of steroids reprinted on MESO-Rx; I found additional information on this case in a recent news story about a man who was fired when he was caught injecting steroids in the workplace.
In 1986, a Prince George’s judge ruled that a prize-winning bodybuilder stationed at Patuxent River Naval Air Station could not be held criminally responsible on charges of breaking into six St. Mary’s homes and setting three of them on fire. The judge concurred with the defendant’s lawyers that he was suffering from a mental disorder caused by the toxic levels of anabolic steroids he had taken to win bodybuilding contests.
The fact that the dumbbell defense has worked in the past explains why it is routinely used when defendants on trial for various crimes happen to use anabolic steroids.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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