United States v. Pardue, Crim. No. 12758.

• Citation: 354 F. Supp. 1377
• Decision Date: 01 March 1973
• Docket Number: Crim. No. 12758.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. James Peter PARDUE.

354 F. Supp. 1377

UNITED STATES of America v. James Peter PARDUE.

Crim. No. 12758.

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

March 1, 1973.

Stewart H. Jones, U. S. Atty., Leslie Byelas, Andrew Bowman, Asst. U. S. Attys., Bridgeport, Conn., for plaintiff.

Jacob D. Zeldes, Elaine Amendola, Zeldes, Needle & Cooper, Bridgeport, Conn., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

ZAMPANO, District Judge.

This case again "demonstrates in the strongest terms the glaring need for federal legislation in regard to long-term detention for treatment of mentally incompetent defendants." United States v. Walker, 335 F.Supp. 705 (N.D.Cal. 1971). It is indeed lamentable when a federal judge, in his attempt to provide for the care of a pretrial detainee who is mentally ill, is confronted with the following painful alternatives: either to authorize the continued incarceration of a defendant in violation of his constitutional rights, or to release him into the community where he may be a danger to himself and to the public.

The plain fact of the matter is that there are no federal facilities which offer appropriate psychiatric services and adequate security for the treatment of the defendant with a mental disorder, not temporary in nature. Federal legislation in this area is desperately needed; the Court trusts Congressional action soon will be forthcoming.

I.

On February 13, 1970, a bomb exploded in the Danbury Police Station, destroying the alarm system connected to the Union Savings Bank located around the corner from the police headquarters. Within minutes the bank was robbed by two armed men who detonated a second bomb as they left the building. The explosion shattered the bank and injured 26 persons. Shortly thereafter a third explosive was set off in the getaway car which had been abandoned by the robbers in a nearby parking lot. In the confusion and terror which followed these explosions, the robbers successfully escaped.

An intensive investigation by the F. B.I. culminated in the arrest of the defendant, James Pardue, and his brother, John Pardue, on March 7, 1970. Both men pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging them with various violations of the Bank Robbery Act.

On May 11, 1970, Dr. Edwin L. Dawe, an eminent psychiatrist, was appointed to examine James to determine his mental competency. See 18 U.S.C. § 4244. A hearing was held on July 7, 1970, after which this Court declared James insane and unable to understand the charges against him. He was ordered, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4246, committed to the custody of the Attorney General until the became competent to stand trial or until the charges pending against him were disposed of in some other manner.

On July 17, 1970, James was admitted to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri. Within a matter of a few weeks, the medical staff at Springfield reported that James had recovered from his illness and recommended that he be returned to Connecticut "for further hearing on his present competency to stand trial." Accordingly, the Court held a series of hearings which were adjourned from time to time in order to permit further psychiatric examinations and to accommodate out-of-state witnesses.

Dr. Harold B. Fain, the government's main witness, testified that although James "may be going through a little emotional upset or something," there was not "any evidence of an overt psychosis." However, after cross-examination, it was evident that the doctor's conclusions were open to serious doubt and, therefore, the Court decided to have James reexamined by Dr. Dawe and by still another psychiatrist, Dr. Marc Rubenstein, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University. They agreed that James was in an acute confusional schizophrenic state, was not malingering, and could not possibly assist in his own defense. This Court again found James to be mentally incompetent and ordered his return to the Springfield Medical Center.

In the following months, the Court continued to receive periodic medical reports which indicated James was "still actively paranoid schizophrenic." Despite this, in May, 1971, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons advised that James' "present condition warrants his return to your court for further hearing on his present competency to stand trial." The Director also referred to the opinion of the staff at the Medical Center "that in all probability the patient will not cooperate since in the past Mr. Pardue has used his medical condition to manipulate."

Both Dr. Dawe and Dr. Rubenstein were assigned to reexamine James and found him to be hallucinating, delusional and suffering from Catatonic Schizophrenia. In reply to governmental contentions that James was malingering, Dr. Dawe, after describing the common patterns of the Ganser Syndrome (prison psychosis) in which inmates may unconsciously mimic symptoms of mental illness, concluded:

Conscious mimicry would require not only acting skill of incredible degree, but an extremely profound and sophisticated knowledge of, and experience in, the entire field of abnormal psychology (for the imposter would need to know not only what to simulate but also what on no account to simulate); the man would need to be totally consistent and be on guard day and night for an indefinite period lest he slip and betray himself. In short, he would need to be a man of truly exceptional attainments and intelligence, and there is nothing in Mr. Pardue's known history to indicate that he is possessed of these superlative skills.

The doctors strongly recommended that James not be returned to the Springfield Medical Center, but transferred to an institution where he could receive "adequate and appropriate treatment."

While the Court was conducting a series of formal competency hearings in the fall of 1971, it became apparent that the Assistant United States Attorney in charge of the case realized he could not carry the requisite burden of proof to demonstrate competency. Therefore, this Court held several informal conferences with counsel in which various procedural avenues were explored, including: 1) returning James to the Springfield Medical Center; 2) arranging for his commitment to a mental institution in Maryland, the state of his residence; 3) encouraging his prosecution by the State of Connecticut on a detainer charging him with armed robbery; 4) authorizing a contract between the Bureau of Prisons and the State of Connecticut whereby James would be confined for treatment in one of Connecticut's mental hospitals at federal expense.

The first course of action was promptly rejected; the Federal Medical Center does not qualify as a psychiatric hospital. Henry v. Ciccone, 440 F.2d 1052, 1054 (8 Cir. 1971); Guy v. Ciccone, 439 F.2d 400, 402 (8 Cir. 1971); United States v. Jackson, 306 F.Supp. 4, 6 (N.D.Cal.1969). Hospitalization in Maryland was not deemed feasible because it was learned that all criminal charges against James had to be dismissed before he was eligible to enter one of the state's institutions. Discussions with Connecticut's local prosecutor indicated some reluctance to proceed on an armed robbery charge, and this possibility was not pursued further. Accordingly, the Court opted for the fourth alternative for the following reasons: 1) there was no question in the Court's mind that James was a seriously mentally ill defendant; 2) dismissal of the federal criminal charges would not serve the public interest; 3) Connecticut's mental institutions could provide satisfactory psychiatric care; and 4) Connecticut officials, defense counsel, and the Assistant United States Attorney were agreeable to confine James as a federal prisoner in a state hospital for the treatment he so sorely needed.

As a consequence, on November 18, 1971, this Court issued the following orders:

1. Negotiations between the State of Connecticut and the United States government must immediately commence in order to secure James Pardue's confinement in an appropriate State facility. The government shall pay for all medical treatment rendered Mr. Pardue by State physicians.

2. If necessary, the government must supplement Mr. Pardue's medical care received in the State institution by retaining the services of a private psychiatrist who will be paid by the government.

Although this Court believed its orders were crystal clear and would serve temporarily to settle the matter, it soon learned that counsel for the parties were in disagreement as to the meaning and effect of the orders.

On December 21, 1971, defense counsel filed another in a series of motions to dismiss, alleging that the government flagrantly failed to comply with the Court's orders, that James had been transferred to the Connecticut Correctional Institution at Somers, a state prison, that there was no plan to commit him to a state hospital, and that he should be released from federal custody. In reply, the government indicated that it "had exhausted its efforts to place James in a State Institution within the District of Connecticut," and that James had been recently transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Danbury, Connecticut and was receiving adequate treatment from Dr. A. J. D'Alessandro, the full-time psychiatrist at the Danbury prison. In addition, the government filed a motion to modify the conditions of the Court's orders issued on November 18, 1971. It argued that since James was in need of long-term hospitalization, he should be returned to the F.M.C. in Springfield, Missouri.

This surprising turn of events, coupled with the...