When a respected local historian and author admitted in court this that he had stolen letters written by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, his attorney disclosed that his client suffers from bipolar disorder, a condition he claimed clouded his judgment.

Edward Renehan Jr. was the director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association in Oyster Bay, Long Island, at the time of the thefts that occurred between January 2006 and October 2007. As more Americans are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, it is becoming a more common defense to claim it impairs judgement and leads people with no prior records, like Mr. Renehan, to commit crimes.