Jaquith v. Beckwith
| Citation | 248 Miss. 491,157 So.2d 403 |
| Decision Date | 12 November 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 42939,42939 |
| Parties | Dr. W. L. JAQUITH v. Byron De La BECKWITH. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen., by G. Garland Lyell, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., William L. Waller, Jackson, for appellant.
Lott & Sanders, Greenwood, E. Hugh Cunningham, Jackson, for appellee.
This case involves an order of a circuit court before trial transferring a defendant indicted for murder to the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield for a psychiatric examination. It was attacked by a habeas corpus proceeding brought by the accused, Byron De La Beckwith, against Dr. W. L. Jaquith, director of the hospital, whom the court had delegated to make the mental examination. The circuit judge held the committing order was void, discharged Beckwith from confinement in the hospital, and directed him to be held in the custody of the sheriff of the habeas corpus court until further order. The state appealed from that judgment.
The issues are whether the order committing accused for psychiatric examination (made over objection of his counsel) was invalid because not supported by any evidence reflecting a reasonable probability that accused was incapable of conducting a rational defense, thus denying him due process of law; and whether such a committing order, with those manifest defects, can be attacked by habeas corpus. We answer these questions in the affirmative.
The pertinent statute is Chapter 262, Mississippi Laws 1960 (Miss.Code 1942, Rec., Sec. 2575.5):
'In any criminal action in the circuit court in which the mental condition of a person indicted for a felony is in question, the court or judge in vacation on motion duly made by the defendant, the district attorney or on the motion of the court or judge, may order such person to submit to a mental examination by a competent psychiatrist selected by the court to determine his ability to make a defense; provided, however, any cost or expense in connection with such mental examination shall be paid by the county in which such criminal action is pending.'
Beckwith was indicted at the July 1963 term of the Circuit Court of Hinds County for the murder of Medger Evers. Upon arraignment he pleaded not guilty. On July 15 the district attorney filed a 'Suggestion of Insanity and Motion * * * for Mental Examination of Defendant.' The motion alleged that Evers was killed on June 12, 1963, and the district attorney through investigation had obtained facts which placed 'the mental competency or sanity of the defendant in serious question.' Hence movant asked the court to order defendant to submit to a mental examination by a competent psychiatrist selected by the court 'to determine his ability to make a defense, as well as to determine the mental state of the defendant on June 12, 1963.' Beckwith, represented by three able and experienced attorneys, filed a response, which asserted that he was capable of making a rational defense to the charges against him, and there was no question but that his mental condition permitted him to make such defense. Defendant and his attorneys objected to such an examination. They asserted it would violate his constitutional right to a speedy trial (taking 30-90 days), would require him to be a witness against himself, and would deny him due process of law.
On July 18 there was a hearing on this motion and the response. The state's evidence in support of its motion was weak and limited in scope. A psychiatrist said that he saw Beckwith on one occasion as a patient sometime in the spring of 1962. He arrived at a diagnostic conclusion, but was not permitted to give it, since it would violate the physician-patient privilege.
Yerger Morehead, an attorney of Greenwood, is a first cousin of Beckwith. When Beckwith's father died in California, he brought him and his mother back to Mississippi. Beckwith was between five and six years old at that time. His mother died when he was eleven, and Morehead was appointed his guardian. He lived in the same house with Beckwith from the time the latter was five and a half years of age until 1941. Both were in the Marine Corps in World War II, and for several months after that they again lived in the same household. Morehead was of the opinion that Beckwith's mental condition was changed after from what it was before the war. He stated:
'I think he is able to confer fully with his attorneys and to consult with them and to prepare his defense along with them but * * * after a period of a number of years of observation and under the conditions in which I saw him I don't believe he is mentally capable of being guilty of a crime of violence. * * *' Nevertheless, the witness said there was no question in his mind but that accused was able to make a rational defense and confer with counsel.
A cotton farmer of Greenwood said that during the second week in June, shortly before the alleged killing, Beckwith called to sell him some fertilizer; that he had a pistol in his pocket, they discussed it, and Beckwith said he carried it with him to Sunday School and church, and had been carrying the weapon for a number of years.
The remaining evidence offered by the state was documentary in nature. In 1960 Mrs. Beckwith filed a divorce action against her husband, alleging numerous acts of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, including physical assaults upon her. The Chancery Court of Leflore County granted her a divorce from defendant, after finding that all of the allegations of fact in the original bill were true. In February 1961 Mrs. Beckwith and petitioner were remarried, and in September 1962 she again filed a bill for divorce, again alleging habitual cruel and inhuman treatment of her, including physical violence. Beckwith contested the second action. On October 9, 1962 the Chancery Court of Leflore County granted her a divorce from him, finding that the facts alleged in the bill were true. The state also introduced in evidence a judgment of a justice of the peace of Leflore County, based on an affidavit by Mrs. Beckwith, in which that court found she had just reason to apprehend that petitioner would carry out a threat to kill her, and required him to make a peace bond for a term of six months. This was all of the evidence offered by the state on its motion for a psychiatric examination.
For the defendant, Stanny Sanders, one of Beckwith's attorneys, testified:
After the hearing the Hinds County Circuit Judge rendered an opinion, in which he concluded, in effect, that there was a probability of present insanity, and appointed Dr. W. L. Jaquith, a psychiatrist, to make a psychiatric examination of the defendant. The order for mental examination (dated July 19, 1963) stated it was based on Code section 2575.5; and the evidence raised a question as to the mental condition of defendant. It directed Dr. Jaquith 'to make a careful examination into the mental condition of the defendant'; ordered the Sheriff of Hinds County to cooperate with Dr. Jaquith; and authorized him to transport the prisoner to the hospital at Whitfield, which is in Rankin County.
Around July 31 Beckwith's three attorneys filed the present petition for writ of habeas corpus, to the Judge of the Eighth Circuit Court District, which includes Rankin County, location of the hospital, and which is adjacent to Hinds County, in a separate district. It recited the facts of indictment, his transfer to the hospital for psychiatric examination, and alleged that the order of July 19 committing him was void, since it was without any limitation, and authorized determination of Beckwith's sanity both at the time of trial and also at the time of commission of the alleged crime. The petition averred that the evidence in the hearing before the Circuit Court of Hinds County showed without dispute that Beckwith was mentally capable of making a rational defense; that he was entitled to a speedy trial, and the order for psychiatric examination denied him that right and due process of law under the state and federal constitutions. The state answered, the writ was issued, and a hearing was held on August 9, 1963 before Honorable O. H. Barnett, Circuit Judge of the Eighth District. A transcript of the proceedings on the motion for examination before the Circuit Court of Hinds County was introduced in evidence without objection by the state.
Judge Barnett held that proceedings under the statute were designed to determine Beckwith's ability to make a defense; the order did not provide it was for the purpose of determining his ability to make a defense to the crime with which he was charged; the evidence showed without dispute that he was capable of making a rational defense; and for those reasons the order was invalid. He overruled the state's motion to modify the order of the Hinds County Circuit Court, by restricting the examination to capacity to make a rational defense at the present time, on the ground he had no power to modify the order of another court. Hence the judgment of the Circuit Judge of the Eighth Circuit Court District sustained the petition for writ of habeas corpus, discharged Beckwith from confinement in the hospital, and held that, until further order, his custody was awarded to the Sheriff of Rankin County, to await trial in the Circuit Court of Hinds County. The judge retained jurisdiction for the purpose of rendering such further orders as might be proper to see that Beckwith was present for trial on the murder indictment.
Beckwith could not take a direct appeal to this court from the July 19 order of the...
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