Cathey, Application of
| Decision Date | 01 December 1960 |
| Docket Number | Cr. 3139 |
| Citation | 9 Cal.Rptr. 533 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Application of James Jack CATHEY for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. |
James Jack Cathey in pro. per., for petitioner.
Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., by Doris H. Maier, Deputy Atty. Gen., for respondent.
Petitioner was charged by an information filed by the District Attorney of Los Angeles County with one count of murder, one count of assault with intent to commit murder, and one count of robbery. On motion made pursuant to section 1368 of the Penal Code, petitioner was found to be presently insane and criminal proceedings were suspended. He was committed to the Atascadero State Hospital, where he was received on October 27, 1959. While there, he engaged in various antisocial acts, but on March 2, 1960 he was certified to the Los Angeles Superior Court as able to understand the nature of the charges against him and to cooperate rationally with his attorney in his own defense. An order was made that he be returned to the Los Angeles court, but prior to the date fixed for his return he attacked and killed one psychiatric technician and seriously injured four others. He was immediately released to the custody of the sheriff of San Luis Obispo County.
An information was then filed against him in the Superior Court of San Luis Obispo County, charging him with one count of murder and four counts of assault with intent to commit murder. After he entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges, a motion was made pursuant to section 1368 of the Penal Code to determine his sanity. A hearing was had thereon and petitioner was found to be presently insane. He was committed to the Department of Mental Hygiene of the State of California for placement in Atascadero State Hospital. The trial court further ordered that the authorities at the Atascadero State Hospital shall, at their option, be permitted to arrange for petitioner's confinement at any other state correctional facility that is available to them for this purpose. Thereafter, pursuant to the provisions of section 11256 of the Government Code, the Department of Mental Hygiene and the Deparment of Corrections entered into an interagency agreement whereby the Department of Corrections agreed to accept for temporary care, treatment, and confinement a limited number of adult male patients under commitment to the Department of Mental Hygiene as insane or mentally ill patients, who were extremely dangerous to others and presented a serious escape risk. This agreement was approved by the Director of Finance. Acting under this agreement, the petitioner was transferred by the Department of Mental Hygiene to the temporary custody of the California Medical Facility at Vacaville. The California Medical Facility is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections.
The petitioner seeks a writ of habeas corpus to secure his release from the California Medical Facility at Vacaville on the ground that his incarceration in a penal institution is illegal. It is his position that, since he was committed under section 1368 of the Penal Code as an insane or mentally ill person, his incarceration is limited to a state hospital for the insane or mentally ill. Thus, the question presented by the petition is the authority of the Department of Mental Hygiene to transfer a person committed to its care to the Department of Corrections.
Section 163 of the Welfare and Institutions Code provides in part that: 'The Department of Mental Hygiene, when it deems it necessary, may, under conditions prescribed by the director, transfer any inmate of a state institution under its jurisdiction to another such institution. * * *' in accordance with the provisions of section 6700 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. That section declares that: This section further provides in part that: '* * * before any inmate of a correctional school may be transferred to a state hospital for the insane, he shall first be returned to a court of competent jurisdiction, and, after a hearing, may be committed to a state hospital for the insane in accordance with law.'
Section 164 of the Welfare and Institutions Code provides that: 'The Director of Mental Hygiene may authorize the transfer of persons from any institution within the department to any institution authorized by the Federal Government to receive such person.' Under the provisions of these sections the power vested in the Department of Mental Hygiene to transfer an inmate is specifically limited. These sections do not authorize the transfer of an inmate to an institution under the control of another state agency, nor is there any power vested in the trial court to authorize such a transfer.
The respondent takes the position that under section 11256 of the Government Code the contract was authorized and under the contract and the section, the transfer was authorized and legal. We do not agree. Section 11256 reads as follows:
'The Director of Finance, upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe, may except from his approval, or grant blanket approval for, the performance of any work, the furnishing of any services, materials or equipment, the entering into of any agreements, the computation of any charges, or the inclusion of any costs provided for herein.'
We cannot interpret this section as authorizing the Department of Mental Hygiene to...
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Cathey, In re
...Third Appellate District, upon petitioner's application in propria persona. After the decision of that court, which appears in (1960, Cal.App.), 9 Cal.Rptr. 533, we granted a hearing.Petitioner then filed in this court another application in propria persona (Crim. 6819) which complains of a......