State v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 27 March 1929
• Docket Number: 241.
• Citation: 147 S.E. 305,196 N.C. 771
• Parties: STATE v. ANDERSON.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

147 S.E. 305

196 N.C. 771

STATE v. ANDERSON.

No. 241.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

March 27, 1929

Appeal from Superior Court, Wake County; W. A. Devin, Judge.

Albert Anderson was convicted of malfeasance and misfeasance in office, and he appeals. Error.

The bill of indictment contains fifteen counts, alleging certain acts of misfeasance and nonfeasance against the defendant who is superintendent of the state hospital. At the conclusion of the evidence the trial judge excluded from the consideration of the jury all counts in said bill except the first, second, seventh, eighth, eleventh, twelfth, and fifteenth. The jury rendered a verdict of guilty upon the seventh and eighth counts only, and it was adjudged "that the defendant was not guilty as to each and every count in the bill of indictment except the seventh and eighth." The bill is drawn under C. S. § 4384. The seventh and eighth counts are as follows: (7) "That on or about the 30th day of December, 1927, and at various other times, the said Albert Anderson, superintendent of the state hospital at Raleigh, N. C., removed or caused to be removed patients, whose names are unknown to the jurors at this time to his private property in Anderson Heights, and then and there caused said patients to work on his (the said Anderson's) private property, clearing out underbrush cutting roads," etc.; (8) "that on or about the 30th day of June, 1928, and at various other times, the said Anderson, superintendent of said state hospital, as aforesaid, removed or caused to be removed from said hospital patients of said hospital to his private farm and there required said patients to work harvesting hay." The defendant in apt time lodged a motion in arrest of judgment and for a directed verdict of not guilty upon each count in the bill. The defendant admitted that at times he took patients in his own car to his farm, and that he himself put on overalls and they worked together from thirty minutes to two hours in such petty work as piling brush or cutting down bushes or raking hay; that in going to and from his farm he frequently took these patients for a ride through Raleigh and nearby towns in order to provide mental diversion. The defendant insisted that such petty work as was done on his farm was a method of treatment, in that patients were removed from the environment of the institution and turned out into the open where they could think and act for themselves. This method of dealing with those suffering with mental diseases is known as occupational therapy. This method of treatment was approved by many of the leading experts in the country, who testified at the trial.

Dr Davison, dean of the Medical School at Duke University, testified: "There is a department of occupational therapy in every insane hospital as well as general hospitals in order to fit the patients to go back to normal life as soon as possible, and such work is very beneficial. It is better to take patients away from the hospital in company with the superintendent, and give them such employment as stacking hay or work of that kind on premises away from the hospital. It increases the patient's self-confidence by allowing him to get away from the hospital grounds. I have had an opportunity to observe the general...