In re Commitment of Heald

• Decision Date: 20 March 2003
• Docket Number: No. 49A05-0208-CV-386.,49A05-0208-CV-386.
• Citation: 785 N.E.2d 605
• Parties: In re the COMMITMENT OF Marcia HEALD, Marcia Heald, Appellant-Respondent, v. Dana Blank, Superintendent, Indiana Women's Prison, Appellee-Petitioner.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

785 N.E.2d 605

In re the COMMITMENT OF Marcia HEALD,

Marcia Heald, Appellant-Respondent, v. Dana Blank, Superintendent, Indiana Women's Prison, Appellee-Petitioner.

No. 49A05-0208-CV-386.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

March 20, 2003.

Janice L. Stevens, Marion County Public Defender Agency, Indianapolis, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, David L. Steiner, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

MATHIAS, Judge.

The Indiana Department of Correction filed a Petition for Involuntary Commitment pursuant to Indiana Code chapter 12-26-7,¹ alleging that Marcia Heald ("Heald") suffers from a psychiatric disorder, is a danger to herself and others, and is gravely disabled. Appellant's App. pp. 9-10. A commitment hearing was held on July 25, 2002, and after hearing evidence, the court found Heald to be mentally ill, a danger to others, and gravely disabled. Consequently, the court ordered her committed to Evansville State Hospital until she is discharged or until the court terminates her commitment. Heald raises two restated issues for review:

1. Whether the doctrine of collateral estoppel precludes the State from proceeding with a commitment hearing when the State had the opportunity to have Heald committed twenty years ago prior to Heald's murder trial, and;

2. Whether the trial court erred in concluding that there was clear and convincing evidence to warrant Heald's commitment.

Finding the doctrine of collateral estoppel inapplicable and sufficient evidence to support the trial court's commitment of Heald, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

Heald was born on August 1, 1938 and raised in Indiana as a Quaker. She received an English degree from Earlham College and attended graduate school at Indiana University. She is now divorced and has two adult sons, ages thirty-five and thirty-seven.

In 1983, Heald began serving a forty-year term of imprisonment at the Indiana Women's Prison ("Prison") for a murder that she committed on August 2, 1982. See Heald v. State, 492 N.E.2d 671 (Ind. 1986)

. Before committing this crime, Heald had no criminal history.

The facts of Heald's murder conviction pertinent to the case at bar reveal that Brian Thornton ("Thornton") was a mutual friend of Heald, and Heald's murder victim, Shelley Smith ("Smith"). Heald developed a delusional pattern of thought in which she perceived Thornton to be Jesus Christ, herself to be Eve, a missionary from God or the Mother Mary, and Smith as the temptress of Christ. As a result of this delusion, Heald broke into Smith's home, attacked Smith with a knife while Smith was asleep in bed, and brutally murdered and attempted to decapitate Smith.

At trial, Heald presented the defense of "insanity at the time of the crime." Consequently, the jury had the option of finding Heald: (1) guilty, (2) not guilty, (3) guilty but mentally ill, or (4) not responsible by reason of insanity at the time of the crime. See Ind.Code § 35-36-2-3. The jury found Heald guilty as charged.

Heald completed her sentence on July 28, 2002. During her incarceration, Heald was considered a good inmate. She only received a couple of minor conduct reports and had not been violent or aggressive in the twenty years she had been at the prison. While in prison, Heald worked in the print shop vocational program and actively participated in other various programs, including the "Clown Ministry" and several church-related activities. Heald also worked as a prison tutor, and her prison record contains several letters of recognition for her prison-volunteer work.

Although Heald regularly attended prison-counseling sessions, she refused psychotropic medication while incarcerated, and her delusions persisted throughout her prison sentence. On June 27, 2002, a month before she was to be released from prison, Heald sent the following letter to the Boone County Clerk of Court:

I am once more inquiring about the disposition of the hat of the Righteous One of Israel which has been in your keeping since my trial in the Boone County Superior Court in 1983 (Cause No.S6929).

Ms. Tammy Hunter, my transition coordinator at Indiana Women's Prison, has made several telephone inquires [sic] to your office, the prosecutor's office, the sheriff's department, and also the police and sheriff's departments as well as the courts in Tippecanoe County trying unsuccessfully to locate the hat. Everyone she has talked to says the hat is gone and they have no idea where it went or when.

The misplacing of the hat of the Righteous One of Israel creates a huge public safety menace as the taxpayers of Tippecanoe County found on August 2, 1998 when their courthouse was bombed on my 16th anniversary.² I recently learned that the people in possession of the hat are the ones who fire-bombed the courthouse. They apparently believed that the hat was a plaything and put it on their own heads in jest. This violates the command of YHWH, Most High God of the Universe, that only the anointed one may wear the hat.

For my own protection, I am requesting an affidavit from your office regarding disposition of the hat. I need to have proof of where the hat went and who authorized its removal or destruction so that I will be exonerated from all blame. The blathering idiot who removed the hat from the Boone County Courthouse can be charged with collusion in the Tippecanoe County fire-bombing because giving the hat to an unauthorized person is like giving a loaded gun to a five year old child who believes the gun is a toy.

I do not, incidentally, believe that the hat was destroyed as that blathering idiot planned. The hat is very fair and attractive and fey. Anyone who saw it on the garbage heap would be bound to retrieve it as a boon souvenir.

I can devise a way to get the hat back. If you are willing to put up a reward of several thousand dollars and advertise in the right places as I shall direct you. Also, I will have to identify the hat from photos submitted by the prospective reward seeker. This will require a sting operation and much patience, but it will be worth your time and trouble because the person who comes forward with the hat of the Righteous One of Israel will be the Tippecanoe Courthouse bomber.

Petitioner's Exhibit 1.

On July 10, 2002, the superintendent of the Prison filed a Petition for Involuntary Commitment of Heald pursuant to Indiana Code chapter 12-26-7. The hearing on this petition was held on July 25, 2002. Dr. Richard Payne, Dr. Paul Shriver, and John Bahret testified at this hearing.

Dr. Payne is a licensed medical doctor and psychiatrist who has worked at the Prison since 1997. Dr. Payne examined Heald once in 2001 and met with her several times during a thirty-day period before the commitment hearing. Dr. Payne presented a written report of his psychiatric evaluation of Heald on June 28, 2002, pursuant to Indiana Code section 12-26-7-2.³ Appellant's App. pp. 13-15.

Dr. Payne concluded that Heald is a very nice, intelligent person, who is a grandmother figure to the inmates, but is severally mentally ill. Tr. p. 12. He testified that Heald was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, explaining that "[Heald] has a complex delusional system. In fact, the most complex that I have ever seen, because she is very highly intelligent but feels she is half-human and half-angel. She feels that she is a warrior-type angel" and that she had to protect Thornton, whom she perceives as Christ, from the murder victim, who Heald knew from a past life 5000 years ago. Appellant's App. p. 14; Tr. pp. 12-13, 14. Dr. Payne further testified that Heald believes that she is on a religious quest from God, and that she did the right thing when she committed the murder because "[Heald] felt the woman was a snake that she needed to cut the head off." Tr. p. 12.

Dr. Payne questioned Heald's ability to take care of herself because she still suffers from the same delusions that were responsible for the murder of Smith. For this reason, Dr. Payne testified that Heald presents a danger to herself and others, especially under stress. Tr. pp. 12, 15, 17. Dr. Payne further remarked that Heald's insight and judgment are extremely poor, "there is a marked paranoid ideation in Heald," and when pressed with pertinent issues, she can be easily disturbed. Appellant's App. p. 14.

Dr. Payne concluded by expressing his concern that, based on his past experiences with Heald, her June 27, 2002 letter to the Boone County Clerk might be a sign that "[Heald] wants to take up where she left off in the delusional-religious experience." For these reasons, Dr. Payne recommended that Heald receive inpatient treatment at a psychiatric facility and psychiatric medication. Appellant's App. pp. 14-15; Tr. p. 16.

Dr. Shriver is a psychologist who works at the Prison. Dr. Shriver met Heald when she became incarcerated at the Prison, and has seen her regularly ever since. Dr. Shriver diagnosed Heald with "delusional disorder." He further testified that recently the Harvard Mental Health Newsletter reported that psychotherapy is as effective or more effective in treating delusional disorders than medication. Tr. p. 28. Unlike Dr. Payne, Dr. Shriver does not believe Heald is a danger to herself and believes the probability that she would present any direct threat of violence to others to be very low. Tr. pp. 28-29.

John Bahret ("Bahret") has known Heald for twelve years. He saw her twice a week for eight years when he worked in the Prison Ministry, and he has maintained contact with Heald during the four years of his retirement. Bahret testified that a loving and supportive environment would be beneficial to Heald and that Heald could get that needed support from Holy Cross Church and the Prison Ministry in Indianapolis. Tr. p. 41. Bahret also testified that if Heald were transferred to the State facility at Evansville for psychotropic treatment, it would be great for him "because...