Jones v. United States

• Decision Date: 29 May 1981
• Docket Number: No. 11918.,11918.
• Citation: 432 A.2d 364
• Parties: Michael A. JONES, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

432 A.2d 364

Michael A. JONES, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 11918.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued En Banc September 8, 1980.

Decided May 29, 1981.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Silas J. Wasserstrom, Public Defender Service, Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Michael W. Farrell, Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., with whom Charles F. C. Ruff, U. S. Atty., John A. Terry and Oscar Altshuler, Asst. U. S. Attys., Washington, D. C., were on the petition, for appellee.

Larry Martin Corcoran, Washington, D. C., filed a brief as amicus curiae.

Before NEWMAN, Chief Judge, and KELLY, KERN, GALLAGHER,^* NEBEKER, HARRIS, MACK, FERREN and PRYOR, Associate Judges.

KELLY, Associate Judge:

Appellant Michael A. Jones is a mental patient at St. Elizabeths Hospital where he has been committed since March 1976, pursuant to D.C.Code 1973, § 24-301(d).¹ In February 1977, he appealed from an order by Judge Eugene N. Hamilton denying his request for immediate release from St. Elizabeths or in the alternative for civil commitment in accordance with the procedures set forth in D.C.Code 1973, § 21-545(b),² basing his challenge to his continued confinement on the argument that detention beyond the maximum period for which he could have been imprisoned for the offense of which he was acquitted denies him equal protection of the laws.

Our first panel opinion, which relied on an express abstention from a challenge to his initial commitment, held that appellant had no right to the relief requested. Jones v. United States, D.C.App., 396 A.2d 183 (1978). Appellant petitioned for rehearing or rehearing en banc, objecting to the panel's decision as unfairly based on his abstention from a challenge to the initial commitment under D.C.Code 1973, § 24-301(d)(2). Rehearing was thereafter granted and a second opinion issued holding that appellant was entitled to immediate release unless the government civilly committed him pursuant to D.C.Code 1973, § 21-545(b) because the "release hearing procedure is to some extent `punitive'" and it would be a denial of equal protection to confine appellant under criminal commitment procedures beyond his hypothetical maximum prison sentence. Jones v. United States, D.C.App., 411 A.2d 624 (1980). The government petitioned for rehearing en banc, disputing the determination that the District of Columbia commitment scheme for insane criminals is punitive. Its petition was granted and the case was reheard by the en banc court. Since our previous opinions were vacated, we consider anew appellant's equal protection claim and hold that he is not entitled to automatic release from St. Elizabeths upon the expiration of his hypothetical maximum prison sentence unless civil commitment proceedings are instituted by the government.

Appellant's commitment resulted from a September 1975, charge of attempted petit larceny. He was first admitted to St. Elizabeths because of a court-ordered competency examination.³ On March 12, 1976, on stipulated facts as to the crime and as to insanity, appellant was acquitted by the court of the charge by reason of insanity. On May 25, 1976, Judge James A. Washington held a "50-day release hearing" pursuant to D.C.Code 1973, § 24-301(d)(2)⁴ and continued appellant's confinement at St. Elizabeths because of his failure to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he was no longer mentally ill or dangerous to himself and others.⁵ A further hearing was set for November 29, 1976. On that date, Judge Hamilton held a second hearing during which appellant raised the argument that his confinement under § 301(d) could not extend beyond his hypothetical maximum prison sentence and that he was therefore entitled to release. The court ordered the government to show cause why appellant should not be released or civilly committed under D.C.Code 1973, § 21-545(b). After a hearing in February of 1977, Judge Hamilton denied appellant's motion for immediate release or, in the alternative, civil commitment, and continued his indefinite confinement at St. Elizabeths. A timely appeal from this order was filed on February 28, 1977.⁶

Before analyzing appellant's equal protection claim, we deem it necessary to reject any suggestion that confinement pursuant to subsection 301(d) is punitive in nature. We recognize that appellant never explicitly made such an assertion, but that implication underlies his argument (and certainly our prior opinions) that the length of the prison sentence which an acquittee might have received determines when he is entitled to release or civil commitment under Title 24 of the D.C.Code. We conclude that there is no basis for finding § 301(d) punitive in any respect.

This court's decision in Bethea v. United States, D.C.App., 365 A.2d 64, 90 (1976), cert. denied, 433 U.S. 911, 97 S.Ct. 2979, 53 L.Ed.2d 1095 (1977), noted that "Congress struck a careful balance between the interest of the individual and those of the community," in the enactment of the District of Columbia commitment scheme for persons acquitted by reason of insanity. The purpose behind this careful balance was explained in Hough v. United States, 106 U.S. App.D.C. 192, 195, 271 F.2d 458, 461 (1959), when Judge Bazelon stated that

[T]he basic policy underlying the statute . . . as we read the legislative history, is to provide treatment and cure for the individual in a manner which affords reasonable assurance for the public safety More recent cases reiterate the dual purpose of § 301(d) as first, the treatment and recovery of the patient, and second, the protection of society and the patient. Collins v. Cameron, 126 U.S.App.D.C. 306, 308, 377 F.2d 945, 947 (1967); Overholser v. O'Beirne, 112 U.S.App.D.C. 267, 269, 302 F.2d 852, 854 (1961); Ragsdale v. Overholser, 108 U.S.App.D.C. 308, 312, 281 F.2d 943, 947 (1960). The 1970 amendments to § 301(d), enacted in response to the decision in Bolton v. Harris, 130 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 395 F.2d 642 (1968),⁷ have not altered its original purpose. See United States v. Jackson, 179 U.S.App.D.C. 375, 381, 553 F.2d 109, 115 (1976). Indeed, the Bolton decision inescapably leads to the conclusion of nonpunitiveness. This is because Bolton's requirement of a separate judicial hearing before indeterminate commitment was intended to undo the punitive aspects attending the formerly automatic connection between the determination of guilt and the commitment of a defendant who pleaded insanity.

The exclusively remedial and protective goals of the statute demonstrate that a punitive rationale has no part in the commitment of persons acquitted by reason of insanity. We agree that

[i]n the light of [the legislative] purpose [of § 301], we must reject the District Court's suggestion that appellant is a "prisoner." Nothing in the history of the statute — and nothing in its language-indicates that an individual committed to a mental hospital after acquittal of a crime by reason of insanity is other than a patient. The individual is confined in the hospital for the purpose of treatment not punishment; and the length of confinement is governed solely by considerations of his condition and the public safety. Any preoccupation by the District Court with the need of punishment for crime is out of place in dealing with an individual who has been acquitted of the crime charged. [Hough v. United States, supra at 196, 271 F.2d at 462.]

Society may not excuse a defendant's criminal behavior because of his insanity and at the same time punish him for invoking an insanity defense. This would nullify that defense, contrary to express legislative intent, see D.C.Code 1973, § 24-301(j) (establishing procedures for pleading insanity), and raise serious constitutional issues.

The regulatory nature of § 301(d) is also evidenced by the non-adversarial character of commitment decisions. All parties, including the government, the hospital⁸ and the acquittee assist in presenting the facts relevant to a determination of the proper conditions and treatment for the insanity acquittee. See United States v. Ecker, 177 U.S.App.D.C. 31, 45, 543 F.2d 178, 192 (1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1063, 97 S.Ct. 788, 50 L.Ed.2d 779 (1977); Bolton v. Harris, supra at 12 n. 64, 395 F.2d at 563 n. 64; Lake v. Cameron, 124 U.S.App.D.C. 264, 268, 364 F.2d 657, 661 (1966) (en banc).

Furthermore, plain reason compels rejection of appellant's reliance on his hypothetical maximum prison term as artificial and meaningless. Statutory maximum sentences have no relationship to the purposes of mental care and treatment. They are intended rather, to set the outer boundaries of lawful punishment for persons found criminally responsible for specified offenses. Not even convicted criminals are automatically sentenced to the maximum applicable term of incarceration. Subsection 301(d) commitments are neither expressly nor impliedly related to statutory maximum sentences. To the contrary, § 301(d) contemplates an indeterminate period of confinement and treatment, depending on when the patient has recovered his sanity or no longer poses a danger to himself or others.⁹ As Dixon v. Jacobs, 138 U.S.App.D.C. 319, 325, 427 F.2d 589, 595 (1970) explains:

Confinement of the mentally ill rests upon a basis substantially different from that which supports confinement of those convicted of crime. In the latter case, with rare exceptions, the continuing validity of confinement rests solely on the validity of the initial commitment. Confinement of the mentally ill, however, depends not only upon the validity of the initial commitment but also upon the continuing status of the patient. Specifically, under our statutes, he must be released from the hospital if he is no longer mentally ill; if, although he remains mentally ill, he is no longer "likely to injure himself or other persons"; or, should the patient so desire, if a course of outpatient treatment can be fashioned that will adequately protect the interests both of...