Hall v. Verdel

• Decision Date: 06 September 1941
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia
• Parties: HALL v. VERDEL et al.

40 F. Supp. 941

HALL v. VERDEL et al.

District Court, W. D. Virginia.

September 6, 1941.

John D. Easley, of Lynchburg, Va., for petitioner.

F. S. Tavenner, Jr., U. S. Atty., of Woodstock, Va., for defendants.

PAUL, District Judge.

John Thomas Hall, at present a patient at the Veterans' Facility, a hospital maintained and operated by the United States Government in Roanoke County, Virginia, has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus seeking release from such institution on the ground that he is illegally detained therein.

It appears that the petitioner is a resident of Campbell County, Virginia, and that on November 2, 1938, he was adjudged insane and was committed to the care of the Veterans' Facility. The proceedings by which he was committed are those prescribed in section 1017 of the Code of Virginia, and § 1018, as amended by Acts 1936, c. 28, the former of which provides in substance that any circuit or corporation judge or any justice of the peace who suspects a person in his county or city to be insane or upon the written complaint of any reputable citizen shall issue a warrant ordering such person to be brought before him and shall summon two reputable physicians and that the judge or justice, together with the two physicians, shall constitute a commission to inquire whether such person be insane and a suitable subject for treatment or care in a hospital for the insane; that witnesses shall be summoned before such commission and that such commission by personal examination of such person and by inquiry of witnesses shall adjudge the mental condition of the person being examined. It is further provided in Section 1020 of the code that if it be adjudged that the person is insane and should be confined in the hospital, then the judge or justice shall issue an order directing commitment to such hospital.

By an act of the General Assembly of Virginia approved March 27, 1936, Acts 1936, c. 343, Section 1020 was amended to provide that in case the person adjudged to be insane is a veteran eligible for treatment in a Veterans' Facility, such person might be committed to such facility in lieu of one of the state hospitals for the insane.

It is further provided in Section 1029 of the Code of Virginia, as amended by Acts 1920, c. 164, that any person who is held in custody as insane may have the question of the legality of his detention and of his condition determined by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the circuit court of the county in which the hospital of his confinement is located and upon such petition and after notice to the authorities of the hospital, the judge of such circuit court shall upon a hearing determine whether such person is in fact insane.

The petition here filed alleges that on the 2nd day of November, 1938, the petitioner was brought before a commission composed of a justice of the peace of Campbell County and two physicians and that, as the result of his examination by said commission, he was committed as insane to the Veterans' Facility in Roanoke County, in which he has been since confined. The complaint of the petition is that the warrant against the petitioner issued and he was tried and committed all on the 2nd day of November, 1938; that he had committed no criminal offence and that there was no allegation that he was dangerously insane nor a menace to the safety of any other person; that he had no opportunity to be represented by counsel at the hearing before the commission and had no opportunity to present witnesses in his own behalf; or, in other words, that he was summarily arrested, brought before the commission, adjudged insane and committed without any charge whatever against him other than he was "suspected" of being insane and without any opportunity on his part to present any evidence on his behalf refuting the charge of insanity.

The petition in this case is in general language. It would appear to seek a retrial of the question of the petitioner's sanity as provided in Section 1029, above referred to, but also and primarily it insists that the present detention of the petitioner is illegal in that the procedure under which he was committed was in violation of rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution of the United States, and particularly of articles V, VI and XIV of the amendments to said Constitution, in that he has been deprived of his liberty without due process of law.

The petition on its face is probably too indefinite and in too general language to permit action upon it, in that while it is alleged that the petitioner has been deprived of his liberty without due process of law, the respects in which due process of law were denied him have not been set forth with sufficient accuracy or detail. It sets forth mere conclusions of law rather than the facts on which the allegations are based. See Whitten v. Tomlinson, 160 U. S. 231, 242, 16 S.Ct. 297, 40 L.Ed. 406.

However, on a hearing on the petition, it is stated by counsel for the petitioner that it is not contended that the procedure whereby the petitioner was adjudged insane and committed did not conform to the provisions of sections 1017 and 1018 of the Code of Virginia. It is contended, however, that the procedure provided by the statute is in violation of the rights guaranteed to the petitioner under the Constitution of the United States in that it provides a procedure whereby this petitioner, or anyone else, can be adjudged insane and committed to a hospital and detained in custody without an opportunity to offer any adequate defense and without any real trial upon the issue of his insanity. This appearing to be the real ground upon which the allegation of the violation of petitioner's constitutional rights are based, it would be permissible to permit the petition to be amended to allege this fact more definitely, and the court has proceeded to consider the matter before it as if such amendment had been made.

The grounds upon which the jurisdiction of this court is sought are two, the first of these being the view that inasmuch as the petitioner is confined in a hospital maintained by the United States Government, from which release is sought, this court has jurisdiction of the matter. However, when the State of Virginia, by the act of March 27, 1936, pursuant to some arrangements with the Veterans' Facility, authorized the commitment of insane veterans to the Veterans' Facility, it is my opinion that the Veterans' Facility thereby became an agent of the State of Virginia for the holding of such insane persons for care and treatment; that the Veterans' Facility, so far as relates to persons committed to it by the state courts of Virginia, stands in the same position as if it were a state institution, and the fact that it happens to be supported and maintained by the United States Government is not material.

But even if the State of Virginia had not by an arrangement with the Veterans' Facility constituted the latter its agent for the care of insane veterans, the state courts would not necessarily be precluded from inquiring into the detention of a person held in custody in the Veterans' Facility or by any other officer or institution of the United States. In Ableman v. Booth, 21 How. 506, 523, 16 L.Ed. 169, it is pointed out that any state court or judge authorized by the laws of the state to issue the writ of habeas corpus may issue it in any case where the party is imprisoned within the territorial limits of that state provided it does not appear when the application is made that the person imprisoned is in custody under the authority of the United States. It is true that if upon a return of the writ it appears that the person is held in custody under authority of the United States, the state court can proceed no further. But where it appears, as it does in the instant case, that the petitioner was committed to custody by a tribunal constituted under the laws of the State of Virginia and in pursuance of the laws of the state, there is nothing to bar the jurisdiction of the state court to grant the writ. The place of detention is not determinative, but the source of the authority under which the detention occurs.

The other ground of jurisdiction is that petitioner was denied rights guaranteed to him by the Constitution of the United States, in that the statute under which his adjudication and commitment took place deprives him of rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. Undoubtedly the deprivation of a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States furnishes this court with jurisdiction, but there still arises the question of whether or not that jurisdiction should be exercised to grant the relief prayed for in the petition. In short, this court is asked to grant this writ of habeas corpus for the purposes of deciding whether or not the statute of Virginia under which this petitioner was examined, adjudicated insane and committed to a hospital constitutes a procedure in violation of the Constitution of the United States in that it deprived the petitioner of his liberty without due process of law.

The statute which is thus attacked has been in force for many years. For at least seventy years, and probably longer, the provisions of the Virginia statute for inquiry into the sanity of suspected persons, determination of the question of sanity and commitments to hospitals for the insane have been substantially as they occur in the present statute, with some amendments made from time to time providing for a greater participation in the inquiry of members of the medical profession. After all these years, this court is now asked to hold that persons dealt with in accordance with this statute have been dealt with in violation of their rights under the Constitution of the United States. It does not appear that the statute has ever been previously so attacked in the courts of the State of Virginia, nor does it appear that this petitioner has...