a legal defense that represents the claim that criminal intent (see mens rea) was absent as the result of a defendant’s dissociated or unconscious state at the time the criminal act was committed. Presently, this particular defense is more common in the United Kingdom and Canada than in the United States.
AUTOMATISM DEFENSE: “An automatism defense posits that a criminal was not responsible for his or her acts, due to not being conscious of committing these acts. “