Ex parte Rosier

• Citation: 76 US App. DC 214,133 F.2d 316
• Decision Date: 02 September 1942
• Docket Number: No. 7920.,7920.
• Parties: Ex parte ROSIER.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (District of Columbia)

76 US App. DC 214, 133 F.2d 316 (1942)

Ex parte ROSIER.

No. 7920.

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Decided September 2, 1942.

Mr. Leonard J. Ganse, of Washington, D. C., for appellant.

Messrs. Dennis McCarthy and Charles B. Murray, Assistant United States Attorneys, with whom Mr. Edward M. Curran, United States Attorney, all of Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellee. Mr. Bernard Margolius, Assistant United States Attorney, of Washington, D. C., also entered an appearance for appellee.

Before STEPHENS, VINSON, and RUTLEDGE, Associate Justices.

STEPHENS, Associate Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia denying the appellant, Dennis W. Rosier, leave to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus without prepayment of costs and denying the petition for the writ. The District Court also denied the appellant leave to file a notice of appeal without prepayment of costs, but upon the appellant's application to this court for relief we directed the clerk of the District Court to file the notice of appeal and to transmit the record without prepayment of costs. The appellant's petition questions the right of Dr. Winfred Overholser as Superintendent of St. Elizabeths Hospital to continue to confine him in that institution. The case involves important questions in respect of the duty of the District Court in habeas corpus proceedings in forma pauperis.

The facts are as follows: On September 30, 1937, the appellant was sentenced to the penitentiary upon a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon for a term of from two to three years. On January 31, 1940, during his confinement under that sentence, a petition for inquiry into his mental health was filed in his behalf in the District Court and after a hearing held on February 7, 1940, a jury returned a verdict that he was of unsound mind. As a result of this a judgment committing the appellant to St. Elizabeths Hospital was entered. The appellant has since been confined in that institution. On July 1, 1940, a writ of habeas corpus was issued by the District Court on application of the appellant and a hearing was held in respect of his mental health. On the same day that writ was discharged and the appellant remanded to custody in St. Elizabeths. The term for which the appellant was sentenced to the penitentiary expired October 14, 1940. On October 15, the appellant signed and swore to a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the following terms:

"Your petitioner Dennis W. Rosier represents and states to this honorable court that he is restrained of his liberty and is unlawfully imprisoned at St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D. C., by the superintendent of said institution.

"That cause of said restraint according to the best of the knowledge and belief of your petitioner is ?€” Alleged Mental Incompetency ?€” but that said restraint is unconstitutional, and he is entitled to legal enlargement.

"Your relator states that he was not properly adjudicated.

"Your petitioner further states that he is of sound mind as he knows right from wrong and has no delusions or hallucinations.

"Furthermore your petitioner's sentence expired upon October 14, 1940, as per records in his possession.

"Your petitioner avers that he is neither a citizen nor a resident of the District of Columbia, but is a citizen of Duval County, Florida, and as such should be returned thereto if further treatment is deemed necessary by this honorable court.

"Wherefore your petitioner prays this honorable court to grant a Writ of habeas corpus, and that he be discharged without delay from such unconstitutional incarceration after proper hearing in said court."

To this petition was annexed an affidavit for leave to proceed in forma pauperis wherein the appellant took oath that he was a citizen of the United States, plaintiff in the habeas corpus action and entitled to commence and maintain the same in the District Court; that because of his poverty, he was unable to pay costs in the action or to give security for the same; that he believed he was entitled to the redress he sought by such action; that the nature of the action was correctly and concisely set out in the petition for the writ. The petition and affidavit were forwarded to the District Court by Dr. Overholser with a letter signed by him reading as follows:

"Enclosed herewith is a holographic petition for writ of habeas corpus signed by one of our patients, Dennis W. Rosier.

"You may recall that this case came before you on a writ of habeas corpus, No. 2087, on July 1, 1940. At that time you dismissed the petition, quashed the writ and remanded the petitioner to the custody of the hospital. His present petition is couched in practically the same terms as his former one and was, in fact, prepared for him by another patient who has a habit of stimulating this sort of legal action among his fellow-patients. Dennis Rosier has shown no change since his previous appearance in court. His sentence expired October 14, 1940, but as he had been duly adjudged of unsound mind in this jurisdiction and had not recovered from his mental disorder, he was, of course, not discharged from the hospital. At present we are endeavoring to get him transferred to his native state, Florida, but do not know whether or not we will be successful.

"We have, of course, no desire to make any suggestions as to the action of your court, but we thought you would like to know these particulars when passing upon his petition."

Upon receipt of the petition and affidavit and the letter of Dr. Overholser the clerk of the District Court made a memorandum of the docket entries in previous proceedings involving the appellant to which reference has been made above and transmitted the same together with the petition, affidavit and letter, to one of the judges of the court. On October 28, 1940, the court entered an order phrased as follows: "Let the petition to file without prepayment of costs and the petition for a writ of habeas corpus be denied . . .." What reason the court had for so disposing of the petition was not made to appear until November 18, 1940, when a memorandum opinion was filed which we set out below. On October 30, the clerk wrote the appellant a letter stating that his petition for a writ of habeas corpus had been received and submitted to the court, but that "Upon consideration thereof, the Court has denied the issuance of the writ." On November 3, the appellant wrote an assistant clerk of the District Court, acknowledged receipt of the letter of October 30th, and asked that there be sent him a written reason for the denial of the writ, and asked also that the clerk be requested "to Send me a Copy of the respondents reply to my petition of 6-1-40 As he failed to give it to me while at Motions Court, July 1st, 1940. I also request a full copy of what's my charges and records Summaries as I'm perfectly ignorant of what its all about." On November 8, the clerk responded in writing advising the appellant "that in denying the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus on October 28, 1940, the Court did not file reasons therefor." On November 15, within the time fixed by then Rule 10 of this court for perfecting appeals, the appellant sent to the clerk of the District Court a notice of appeal, in due form, from the order denying the petition for a writ. Annexed to the notice was an affidavit in forma pauperis in substantially the same terms as the one accompanying the petition for the writ. To the notice and affidavit the appellant appended a letter to the clerk in which he again appealed for a copy "of the respondents reply to my petition of June 1940," and again inquired why his petition had been denied; he also stated that he was still detained in "a prison penal ward" after having served his maximum sentence, that he had given no trouble except in persistently requesting release, that he was not sick or demented, that he was not receiving, and had not received, medical treatments at St. Elizabeths, and that he accordingly felt entitled to transfer to an outside ward. He concluded by asking the clerk to insist on these "points of logic" if the doctors "feel as though I'm mentally or physically unfit for public welfare." The letter was informally phrased and obviously written by an uneducated person, but its appeal for reasons why the petition for a writ had been denied, and for deliverance at least from a prison ward is clear.¹ An additional letter appealing to "Hon. Judges and Jurists" stating that there were none who could secure counsel for him, and that his people were in poverty stricken areas in Florida and could not come to see him, was written by the appellant upon the back of the affidavit in forma pauperis.² The notice of appeal, the affidavit in forma pauperis and the letters of the appellant were by the clerk brought to the attention of one of the trial judges, together with a memorandum of docket entries dated November 15, in which the clerk asked, "Has the clerk any authority to file this notice of appeal and make the record for him the appellant without collecting money due the United States? Also has the clerk a right to file petition, the filing of which was denied without prepayment of costs?" We print the memorandum in full in the margin.³ On November 18 the trial court filed a memorandum opinion in words as follows:

"There is today presented to me a communication dated November 1, 1940, from Dennis W. Rosier, a patient at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, addressed to the Clerk of this Court, by which notice is given to the Clerk of the intention of the writer of the communication to appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, from what he states is the judgment of this Court in denying a petition for writ of Habeas Corpus `signed and filed October 15, 1940.' Since an affidavit is filed stating the said...