Overholser v. Lynch

• Decision Date: 26 January 1961
• Docket Number: No. 15859.,15859.
• Citation: 288 F.2d 388
• Parties: Winfred OVERHOLSER, Superintendent, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Appellant, v. Frederick C. LYNCH, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

288 F.2d 388 (1961)

Winfred OVERHOLSER, Superintendent, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Appellant, v. Frederick C. LYNCH, Appellee.

No. 15859.

United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued October 4, 1960.

Decided January 26, 1961.

Mr. Maurice R. Dunie, Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom Messrs. Oliver Gasch, U. S. Atty., and Carl W. Belcher, Asst. U. S. Atty., were on the brief, for appellant.

Mr. Richard Arens, Washington, D. C., with whom Messrs. Lawrence Speiser and James Mitchell Jones, Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before WILBUR K. MILLER, Chief Judge, and EDGERTON, PRETTYMAN, BAZELON, FAHY, WASHINGTON, DANAHER, BASTIAN and BURGER, Circuit Judges, sitting in banc.

BASTIAN, Circuit Judge, with whom WILBUR K. MILLER, Chief Judge, and PRETTYMAN, WASHINGTON, DANAHER and BURGER, Circuit Judges, concur.

On November 6, 1959, appellee defendant in the trial court came before the Municipal Court for the District of Columbia on informations charging two violations of the bad check law, § 22-1410, D.C.Code (1951). Pursuant to § 24-301(a), D.C.Code (Supp. VIII, 1960), the trial judge ordered appellee committed to District of Columbia General Hospital for mental observation, and appellee entered that hospital the same day. A report from the hospital was received by the court on December 4, 1959, stating that appellee was at that time incompetent to stand trial. Under the provisions of § 24-301(a), the trial judge ordered that appellee remain at the hospital for treatment. On December 28, 1959, a second report was received from the hospital stating that appellee had improved and was then competent to stand trial. The psychiatrist who wrote the report went on to state that, in his opinion, appellee was a manic-depressive, manic type, and that this disease particularly affects financial judgment. He further stated that, in his opinion, appellee's crimes were the product of this mental disease or defect and that appellee required further treatment to insure against repetition of the offenses. This report was in accordance with our ruling in Winn v. United States, infra.

On December 29, 1959, appellee was brought to trial and was represented by counsel. When his case was called, appellee sought to withdraw the not guilty plea which he had entered earlier and to enter a plea of guilty. The trial judge, having before him the report that appellee was not mentally competent when the acts were committed, refused to allow a change in the plea and proceeded to conduct a trial on the charges. During the course of this trial, the psychiatrist who had examined appellee testified,¹ over objection, as to appellee's mental condition at the time of the commission of the offenses. At the trial, it appears that appellee took the stand and denied essential elements of the crimes with which he was charged. At the conclusion of the case, the trial judge found appellee not guilty by reason of insanity and pursuant to § 24-301(d) D.C.Code (Supp. VIII, 1960), ordered him committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital. No appeal was taken.

On June 13, 1960, appellee filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the District Court, to test the legality of his detention at St. Elizabeths. That court held that the Municipal Court was without jurisdiction to commit appellee in the manner described above and, on June 27, 1960, ordered that he be released unless civil commitment proceedings were instituted within ten days of the date of the order.

At the outset of the case in the Municipal Court, the trial judge was faced with the clear mandate of § 24-301(a), which reads in pertinent part:

"Whenever a person is * * * charged by information * * * with an offense and, prior to the imposition of sentence * * * it shall appear to the court from the court\'s own observations * * * that the accused is of unsound mind or is mentally incompetent so as to be unable to understand the proceedings against him or properly to assist in his own defense, the court may order the accused committed to * * * a mental hospital * * for a reasonable period * * * for examination and observation and for care and treatment if such is necessary * * *. If * * the superintendent of the hospital * * * shall report that in his opinion the accused is of unsound mind or mentally incompetent, such report shall be sufficient to authorize the court to commit * * * the accused to a hospital for the mentally ill unless the accused or the Government objects, in which event, the court, after hearing without a jury, shall make a judicial determination of the competency of the accused to stand trial. * * *" Emphasis supplied.

This statute is similar to 18 U.S.C. § 4244 (1958), the major difference being that, under the latter section, a judicial determination, after hearing, must always be made, following receipt of the psychiatrist's report. The trial judge thus properly committed appellee to D. C. General Hospital for observation and, after receipt of the December 4 report, for treatment.

When the report of December 28 was received, the trial judge, pursuant to § 24-301(b), properly held that appellee was then competent to stand trial. That section reads in pertinent part:

"Whenever an accused person confined to a hospital for the mentally ill is restored to mental competency in the opinion of the superintendent * * * the superintendent shall certify such fact * * and such certification shall be sufficient to authorize the court to enter an order thereon adjudicating him to be competent to stand trial, unless the accused or the Government objects * * *." Emphasis supplied.

The trial judge thus, on December 29, found appellee competent to stand trial, in the manner in which he originally found him to be incompetent, both actions being taken pursuant to clear and unambiguous statutory mandates.

We do not quarrel with the operation and effect of § 24-301(a) and (b); indeed, we heartily endorse them. For a defendant who is subjected to trial while mentally incompetent to understand the charges against him and unable to assist in his own defense has not really been tried at all, certainly not in the sense of a "fair" trial, which is the basic element of the due process guaranteed by the Constitution. See the colloquy, at a hearing on S. 850, 80th Cong., 2d Sess. (1948), between Judge Magruder and Senator Wiley, quoted by this court with approval in Gunther v. United States, 1954, 94 U.S.App.D.C. 243, 245, 215 F.2d 493, 495.

Under a section of a statute which is not attacked here, appellee was properly found incompetent to stand trial and committed to a mental hospital. Subsequently, under another section of the same statute, he was found competent to stand trial and counsel was appointed for him. At this point, immediately before his trial was scheduled to begin, appellee sought to withdraw the not guilty plea which had been entered previously and to enter a plea of guilty. The trial judge did not permit the plea to be changed and proceeded to try the case. Rule 9, Mun.Ct.Crim., states:

"A defendant may plead not guilty, guilty * * *. The court may refuse to accept a plea of guilty, and shall not accept the plea without first determining that the plea is made voluntarily with understanding of the nature of the charge. * * *" Emphasis supplied.

This is an exact copy of Fed. R.Crim.P. 11, 18 U.S.C.A. Appellee contends that the "shall not" clause modifies the first clause of this rule, with the net effect that the only circumstance in which a plea of guilty is properly refused is that outlined in the second clause. We do not think this is the case. In Tomlinson v. United States, 68 App. D.C. 106, 93 F.2d 652, 114 A.L.R. 1315, certiorari denied 1937, 303 U.S. 646, 58 S.Ct. 645, 82 L.Ed. 1107, this court said:

"An application by a defendant to change his plea is addressed to the sound discretion of the court, and the action of the court will not be disturbed, unless there has been an abuse of that discretion." 68 App.D.C. at page 108, 93 F.2d at page 654.

We think the above language is clearly consistent with the Municipal Court's Rule 9. The permissive clause beginning with "may" indicates a general discretion in the court, while the mandatory clause beginning with "shall not" indicates one circumstance where the court has no discretion but must refuse to permit the guilty plea.

We turn now to the issue of whether the trial judge abused his discretion in refusing to permit the guilty plea.

Procedure markedly similar to that called for by 18 U.S.C. § 4244 is outlined in § 24-301(a) and (b) of the D.C.Code, and this court has consistently held that an examination conducted under § 4244 to determine a defendant's competency to stand trial must be broad enough to include an inquiry into his mental condition at the time the act in question was committed. Winn v. United States, 1959, 106 U.S.App.D.C. 133, 270 F.2d 326; Calloway v. United States, 1959, 106 U.S.App.D.C. 141, 270 F.2d 334. It would be illogical and inconsistent in the extreme for this court now to hold that the doctrine of Winn and Calloway does not apply to § 24-301 (a) and (b) of the D.C.Code. Therefore, the psychiatrist's reports which were before the Municipal Court properly included evaluation of appellee's mental condition at the time the acts complained of were committed.

Perhaps we can not say that at that point the trial judge knew that appellee was not guilty of the crimes charged by reason of insanity but we certainly can say that he had every reason, at that point, to believe that there was grave doubt about appellee's criminal culpability and that the issue should be litigated. The preceding statement, of course, is based on the Davis rule,² that insanity is not strictly an affirmative defense and can be raised by either the court or the prosecution.

In Carter v. United States, 1960, 108 U.S.App.D.C. 405, 283 F.2d 200, 203, we considered the converse of the present problem,...