In re Williams

• Decision Date: 14 January 1958
• Docket Number: No. 6-58.,6-58.
• Citation: 157 F. Supp. 871
• Parties: In the Matter of Dallas O. WILLIAMS.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

157 F. Supp. 871

In the Matter of Dallas O. WILLIAMS.

No. 6-58.

United States District Court District of Columbia.

January 14, 1958.

Oliver Gasch, U. S. Atty., Edward P. Troxell, Principal Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., for respondent.

George Rublee, II, Nestor S. Foley, Washington, D. C., for petitioner.

KEECH, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on a writ of habeas corpus seeking the discharge of the petitioner, Dallas O. Williams, from the custody of the Superintendent of Saint Elizabeths Hospital, to which he was committed by order of this Court in Mental Health No. 34-58, "pending the outcome of proceedings to be forthwith instituted by the Mental Health Commission."

At the time of the signing of the order of commitment, the petitioner was before the court for presentation of the certified copy of the judgment and opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, reversing his conviction in Criminal No. 1572-49 for lack of due process. Williams v. United States, D.C.Cir., 250 F.2d 19. The government requested that the court, before receiving the mandate of the Court of Appeals in the criminal case, consider the petition of the United States Attorney, on behalf of the Superintendent of the District of Columbia Jail, that the Mental Health Commission examine Williams and report its findings to the Court.

The petition, sworn to by the United States Attorney, recited:

"1. Dallas O. Williams, colored, male and about 43 years old, was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon in November, 1949. He has had five trials, two resulting in mistrials and three in convictions. Defendant was adjudicated incompetent and committed to St. Elizabeth's Hospital three times during the period of these trials. Now, after the fifth trial, which resulted in conviction, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has reversed and remanded with instructions to dismiss the indictment.

"2. The staff of St. Elizabeth's Hospital advised that Dallas O. Williams at the present time shows no evidence of active mental illness but that he is potentially dangerous to others and if released is likely to repeat his patterns of criminal behavior, and might commit homicide.

"3. This petition is filed pursuant to the opinion of the United States Court of Appeals in Williams v. United States D.C.Cir., 250 F.2d 19, decided November 1, 1957, wherein that Court stated: `It is open to the Government, however, to proceed for a civil commitment under D.C.Code 21-326, if it considers that, with Williams at large in his present state, "the rights of persons and of property will be jeopardized or the preservation of public peace imperiled and the commission of crime rendered probable."'" (Emphasis supplied.)

The petition then prayed that the Commission on Mental Health be directed to examine petitioner and report its findings to the Court and that he be committed to Saint Elizabeths Hospital pending determination of the need for his continued confinement in a mental institution. Attached to the petition were the unsworn statements of Doctors Cody and Platkin, two psychiatrists who had examined the petitioner on December 28, 1957, at the jail.¹

The court granted this petition for commitment, "sitting as a court of equity." The order did not provide any definite term of temporary commitment. Thereafter a supplemental order was signed by the court, directing the Mental Health Commission to include certain specific findings in its report.²

The petition for a writ of habeas corpus followed. Issuance of the writ was granted, and a full hearing has now been had before this court upon the return to the writ. The sole issue in this proceeding is whether the petitioner is lawfully restrained by the respondent. At the outset, it should be pointed out that, inasmuch as there is no criminal charge now pending against petitioner, there is no contention that any provision of the criminal code authorized his commitment. The legality of his confinement must therefore be tested solely upon the civil authority of this Court.

The respondent relies upon §§ 21-301 and 21-326 of the District of Columbia Code and the concluding suggestion of the Court of Appeals in its opinion reversing petitioner's criminal conviction.

Section 21-301 does not purport to provide any procedure for the commitment of insane persons. It merely deals with the court's power to superintend and direct the affairs of persons who have been adjudged non compos mentis, providing for appointment of committees or trustees for the management and preservation of insane persons' estates.³

Section 21-326, captioned "Apprehension and detention by police, without warrant, of insane persons found in public places," deals with just that subject.⁴ Although it provides an emergency procedure for apprehension of persons thought to be insane, which should not be defeated by an over-technical construction,⁵ it does require that the arresting officer reasonably believe the person apprehended to be insane and incapable of managing his own affairs or a menace to the public peace, and authorizes only the initial arrest and detention.

The two sections of the Code which prescribe the basic procedure for preliminary commitment of insane persons are §§ 21-310 and 21-311.

Section 21-310 provides in part:⁶

"Any person with whom an alleged insane person may reside, or at whose house he may be, or the father or mother, husband or wife, brother or sister, or the child of lawful age of any such person, or the nearest relative or friend available, or the committee of such person, or an officer of any charitable institution, home, or hospital in which such person may be, or any duly accredited officer or agent of the Board of Public Welfare, or any officer authorized to make arrests in the District of Columbia who has arrested any alleged insane person under the provisions of sections 21-326 to 21-331, may apply for a writ de lunatico inquirendo and an order of commitment, or either thereof, for any alleged insane person in the District of Columbia, by filing in the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia a verified petition therefore, containing a statement of facts upon which the allegation of insanity is based." (Emphasis supplied.)

Section 21-311, which authorizes commitment of alleged insane persons for psychiatric examination, provides that upon filing of the petition under § 21-310—

"accompanied by the affidavits of two or more responsible residents of the District of Columbia setting forth that they believe the person therein named to be insane or of unsound mind, the length of time they have known such person, that they believe such person to be incapable of managing his own affairs, and that such person is not fit to be at large or go unrestrained, and that if such person be permitted to remain at liberty the rights of persons and property will be jeopardized or the preservation of public peace imperiled or the commission of crime rendered probable, and that such person is a fit subject for treatment by reason of his or her mental condition, the court, or any judge thereof in vacation, may, in its or his discretion, issue an attachment for the immediate apprehension and detention, for preliminary examination, of such person in Saint Elizabeths Hospital and, unless found by the staff of Saint Elizabeths Hospital to be of sound mind, therein for a period of not exceeding thirty days. * * *"

This section further provides:

"Persons arrested under the provisions of sections 21-326 to 21-331 shall be detained in Gallinger Municipal Hospital⁷ pending the filing of a petition as provided in section 21-310. Such petition shall be filed within forty-eight hours after such person shall have been admitted into Gallinger Municipal Hospital, or, if such forty-eight-hour period shall expire on a Sunday or legal holiday, then not later than noon of the next succeeding day which is not a Sunday or legal holiday. The court, or any judge thereof in vacation, may, upon being satisfied of the sufficiency of the petition, sign an order authorizing the continued detention of said person in Gallinger Municipal Hospital and, unless found by the staff of Gallinger Municipal Hospital to be of sound mind, in Saint Elizabeths Hospital for a period not exceeding thirty days from the time of his apprehension and detention. If such petition be not filed, and such order of court obtained within the aforementioned period, the person shall be discharged forthwith. * * *" (Emphasis supplied.)

Under no statute is the court authorized to commit any person for mental examination on a petition which fails to state facts upon which an allegation of present insanity is based.

If it be considered that the Superintendent of the Jail was a "person with whom the alleged insane person may reside, or at whose house he may be," within the terms of § 21-310, obviously the statements attached to his petition did not fulfill the requirements of § 21-311, hence furnished no basis for the order of commitment. Aside from the fact that the psychiatrists' statements were unsworn, they contained no allegation of present insanity. Although both doctors indicated that they anticipated further antisocial behavior by the petitioner upon his release to society and believed him to be a potential...