In re Rosenfield

• Decision Date: 13 December 1957
• Docket Number: No. 119-57.,119-57.
• Citation: 157 F. Supp. 18
• Parties: In re Milton T. ROSENFIELD, Petitioner.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

157 F. Supp. 18

In re Milton T. ROSENFIELD, Petitioner.

No. 119-57.

United States District Court District of Columbia.

December 13, 1957.

James J. Laughlin, Washington, D. C., for petitioner.

Oliver Gasch, U. S. Atty., and Oscar Altshuler, Asst. U. S. Atty., for District of Columbia, Washington, D. C., for the United States.

HOLTZOFF, District Judge.

This proceeding came on for hearing on a return to a writ of habeas corpus. The petitioner, having been acquitted in this court on five indictments on the ground of insanity, was committed to Saint Elizabeths Hospital for the mentally ill. He now seeks an unconditional release from the institution.

The petitioner was charged in five indictments with housebreaking and larceny. Each specified a separate housebreaking and larceny connected therewith. The cases were tried jointly on December 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, 1956, and the trial resulted in a verdict of not guilty on the ground of insanity. A recent statute approved on August 9, 1955, makes it mandatory for the court to commit to a hospital for the mentally ill any person who is acquitted on the ground of insanity. Accordingly, the court on December 7, 1956, ordered the defendant to be confined in Saint Elizabeths Hospital.¹ On April 19, 1957, the petitioner was liberated under a conditional release order and has been living in this city since that time. He now prays for an unconditional release.

The statutory provisions governing this subject form a part of the Act of August 9, 1955, to which reference has already been made. They read as follows (District of Columbia Code, Title 24, Section 301(e)):

"Where any person has been confined in a hospital for the mentally ill pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, and the superintendent of such hospital certifies (1) that such person has recovered his sanity, (2) that, in the opinion of the superintendent, such person will not in the reasonable future be dangerous to himself or others, and (3) in the opinion of the superintendent, the person is entitled to his unconditional release from the hospital, and such certificate is filed with the clerk of the court in which the person was tried, and a copy thereof served on the United States Attorney or the Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia, whichever office prosecuted the accused, such certificate shall be sufficient to authorize the court to order the unconditional release of the person so confined from further hospitalization at the expiration of fifteen days from the time said certificate was filed and served as above; but the court in its discretion may, or upon objection of the United States or the District of Columbia shall, after due notice, hold a hearing at which evidence as to the mental condition of the person so confined may be submitted, including the testimony of one or more psychiatrists from said hospital. The court shall weigh the evidence and, if the court finds that such person has recovered his sanity and will not in the reasonable future be dangerous to himself or others, the court shall order such person unconditionally released from further confinement in said hospital * * *".

As this is a new statute, there appear to be no reported cases interpreting it and, therefore, a thorough consideration of its construction and application seems desirable. Such a scrutiny can be commenced best by a discussion of the numerous questions and the various circumstances involved in the general situation that led to the passage of the 1955 Act. The problem of dealing with insane criminals is fraught with difficulties. It has widespread ramifications and broad implications. To incarcerate such persons in prison would be inhumane. Moreover, it would be unfair to other prisoners, a vast majority of whom necessarily are sane human beings. On the other hand, to turn insane criminals free would be dangerous both to the public and to themselves. For the protection of the public as well as for their own protection, they should be confined and treated in mental hospitals. Troublesome questions arise, however, in endeavoring to decide when they become ready for release from the institution. Dangerous lunatics, seemingly cured, have been known to go on a rampage after being set at liberty. On the other hand, criminals, who have successfully pleaded insanity, have been known to claim that they are of sound mind promptly after serious criminal charges no longer confronted them. Yet to turn them free forthwith would be not only stultifying, but would also mean that guilty persons would go unwhipped of justice, thus dealing a blow at the administration of the criminal law and possibly encouraging other criminals.

There is a presumption that a state of mind once established continues to exist until the contrary appears. Consequently, in the case of a defendant acquitted on the ground of insanity, the mental illness is presumed to continue until a complete recovery is convincingly proved. He should be kept under observation in the institution for a sufficiently long period, even after a cure appears, in order to make certain that the apparent cure is not merely temporary, or as it is known in psychiatry, a period of remission. Safety of the public demands nothing less, while the defendant has no right to complain at being taken at his word. The protection of the public, with due regard to the rights of the accused, is the primary aim of the criminal law. It is necessary to prevent a plea of insanity from becoming an escape route from the consequences of a criminal conviction by substituting a short stay in a modern mental hospital for a long term of imprisonment in a penitentiary, or possibly even for the death penalty.

That this is no mere theoretical possibility appears from the fact that during the past several years, there has been in this jurisdiction a marked increase in the number of motions for mental examinations on the part of persons charged with crime. At times such applications have been made on the eve of trial. It may be said in passing that as one of the consequences of these tactics the average period between indictment and trial has been frequently lengthened, although this Court keeps its criminal docket in a current condition.²

The problems confronting trial courts and juries in determining whether a defendant should be acquitted on the ground of insanity are difficult, complex and at times baffling. The definition of insanity recently adopted in this jurisdiction is general, indefinite and puzzling in practical application. It requires a prolonged and involved explanation. It is a test that has been rejected in every jurisdiction, Federal and State, in which its adoption has been proposed, and exists only in the State of New Hampshire, which originated it many years ago, and in the District of Columbia, which recently followed the example of New Hampshire.³

The difficulties are multiplied by the requirement that once the slightest evidence, or a mere scintilla of evidence, of the defendant's insanity at the time of the commission of the crime has been introduced, the burden is cast on the Government to prove sanity as of that date beyond a reasonable doubt.⁴ In this respect the onus to be borne by the Government in the District of Columbia is heavier than that in other Federal courts, since elsewhere the defendant...