State v. Shackford

• Decision Date: 19 February 1970
• Citation: 262 A.2d 359
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Ernest B. SHACKFORD, Jr.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 359

262 A.2d 359

STATE of Maine v. Ernest B. SHACKFORD, Jr.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Feb. 19, 1970.

Nicholas S. Strater, Asst. Atty. Gen., Augusta, for plaintiff.

Charles E. Moreshead, Augusta, for defendant.

Before WILLIAMSON, C. J., and WEBBER, MARDEN, WEATHERBEE and POMEROY, JJ.

POMEROY, Justice.

Ernest B. Shackford, Jr., then a 15-year old boy, was on July 1, 1964, found not guilty of the crime of murder, because the jury found the act of killing was the product of a mental disease or mental defect from which he was suffering at the time of the commission of the act. His commitment to the custody of the Commissioner of Mental Health and Corrections pursuant to the provisions of Title 15 M.R.S.A. Sec. 103, followed.

After receiving a report from the Superintendent of the Augusta State Hospital, the Commissioner of Mental Health and Corrections notified the Court on November 13, 1968, that in the opinion of the Superintendent, Shackford could be released and that 'his release would not jeopardize the public safety within the foreseeable future due to mental disease or mental defect.' After reviewing the report, the then Presiding Justice ordered hearing be held and appropriate notice given.

The cause came on for hearing on March 21, 1969. Prior to the hearing the Court found Shackford was indigent and appointed counsel for him.

After hearing the testimony of two psychiatrists, the Court denied release. In announcing its decision, the Court said, in part:

'The only thing I have to decide under that is whether I find that Mr. Shackford may be released without danger to the public, due to mental disease or mental defect. And the rule I an going to apply is that if I have any reasonable doubt as to that, he ought not to be released.'

The concluding sentence of his findings was,

'I find, after this hearing, that I cannot find that he may be released without danger to the public within the foreseeable future due to mental disease or mental defect, because I have a reasonable doubt concerning the possibility of a regression into another transient episode of psychosis, or acute psychotic episode; so he will now be returned to the State Hospital until further order of Court.'

Shackford through Court-appointed counsel has appealed. The Points of Appeal are two in number.

1. The Court erred, as a matter of Law, in refusing to release Ernest Shackford, Jr., by establishing as the burden of proof that the Court must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Ernest Shackford, Jr. had recovered sufficiently to permit release without danger to the public within the foreseeable future due to mental defect or disease.

2. The Court erred, as a matter of Law, in refusing to release Ernest Shackford, Jr., from the Augusta State Hospital because there was no evidence or testimony at his hearing that he was currently suffering from any mental defect or disease as is required by M.R.S.A. Title 15, Sec. 104.

No attack is here made on the commitment procedure provided by statute, (15 M.R.S.A. Sec. 103).

In 1963 our Legislature by Chapter 311, Sec. 3, Public Laws, abandoned what had long been the Maine rule as to criminal responsibility, ¹ and adopted a rule which reads as follows:

'An accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or mental defect. The terms 'mental disease' or 'mental defect' do not include an abnormalty manifested only by repeated criminal conduct or excessive use of drugs or alcohol.'

See: State v. Park, 159 Me. 328, 193 A.2d 1 (1963).

Sec. 103, Title 15 M.R.S.A. provides that when a respondent is acquitted, by reason of mental disease or mental defect, excluding responsibility, the verdict and judgment shall so state. In such case, the statute continues, 'the Court shall order such person committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Mental Health and Corrections, to be placed in an appropriate institution for the mentally ill or the mentally retared for care and treatment.'

In 1967 our Legislature, by enacting Chapter 402, Public Laws of 1967 (15 M.R.S.A. Sec. 104), adopted a method by which one committed to a mental institution under the provisions of Sec. 103, Title 15 M.R.S.A. could be released conditionally or unconditionally. The statute requires that annually, and at any time, the Superintendent of the institution in which such patient has been placed under Sec. 103 shall report to the Commissioner of Mental Health and Corrections, the Superintendent's opinion as to the condition of such person committed to his institution and such person's readiness for release. In describing the duties of the Superintendent of the institution with regard to such report, the statute uses these words:

'* * * which opinion in the case of a person found not quilty of crime by reason of mental disease shall indicate whether such person is, or is not, restored sufficiently to permit release without danger to the public within the foreseeable future, due to mental disease, and in the case of a person found not guilty of crime by reason of mental defect shall indicate whether such person is, or is not, adjusted, socially and otherwise, so as to permit release without danger to the public within the foreseeable future, due to mental defect.'

The Commissioner is then directed to file the report with the Court in the County in which the person is hospitalized. The Court, the statute says, shall review the report and if it is made to appear by the report that the patient is ready for release, the Court must set a date for holding a hearing on the question of the patient's readiness for release. The Court is further directed to receive the testimony of at least one psychiatrist who has observed or treated such person and any other relevant testimony. In this case the statute was followed precisely.

At the hearing, the testimony of Dr. Allen Saunders, a member of the staff of the Augusta State Hospital, was received. The State appeared by the Attorney General and opposed the recommendation for release which had been made by the Superintendent of the State Hospital. Shackford, through his Court-appointed counsel, objected to the appearance of the Attorney General's Department in opposition to the recommendation for release of the patient filed by the Superintendent. His reasoning was that the State was the moving party; that the Superintendent of the State Hospital had reported the position of the State and the Attorney General could not advance a position contrary to that of the Superintendent because to do so would involve his Department in a conflict of interest.

Shackford's position assumes hearings conducted under 15 M.R.S.A. Sec. 104, are proceedings in which the State is aligned as a party vis-a-vis the patient; that it is for the Superintendent of the State Hospital to determine the State's position as to release and that once the Superintendent had adopted the same position as that of the patient, the 'parties' are in agreement and there is, therefore, no issue for determination by the Court.

We do not so view the statute. The legislative scheme for determining the length of stay in a mental institution by one found not to be legally responsible for acts which would be criminal but for the existence of a mental disease or defect producing the acts, is as follows:

1. The Court is given responsibility for determining the factual issue as to the readiness of the patient for release. ²

2. The standard prescribed by the Legislature is, can the patient be released and enlarged without danger to the public within the foreseeable future due to his mental disease or mental defect? ³

The statute provides,

(a) the Justice must hear the testimony of at least one psychiatrist who has observed or treated the patient, and

(b) the Justice may receive and hear other testimony which he deems relevant.

The process which puts the inquiry by the Court in motion is either (1) a petition to the Court filed by the patient, his spouse or any next of kin asking for hearing, (2) the filing of a report by the Commissioner of Health and Corrections with the Court, that it is the opinion of the Superintendent of the Hospital in which the person is a patient that the patient is ready for release.

The proceeding is not a trial in the conventional sense, although procedurally it takes on most of the features of a trial. The function of the Attorney General in such proceeding, is to assist the Court in arriving at the conclusion it is called upon to make by investigating to search out relevant testimony and to marshal the relevant evidence bearing on the question. He is not an 'advocate' in the sense that he is not required to espouse any particular position as he would in a criminal case.

The psychiatrist who has observed or treated the patient is but a witness. He is not representing the State. As a witness he is called upon to give his medical diagnosis and medical prognosis. He is not called upon to assume a legal position for and on behalf of the State.

At the hearing ordered by the Presiding Justice, Allen Saunders M.D., testified. From him the Court learned that he was the physician in charge of that section of the State Hospital in which Shackford was confined, both prior to the trial and after a finding by jury that Shackford was not guilty of murder by reason of mental disease or defect.

Dr. Saunders informed the Court that he had testified at Shackford's trial in York County in 1964 and had given as his opinion that there was no psychiatric diagnosis; that he found no symptomatology of any mental disease or defect either during the patient's confinement at the State Hospital prior to the trial or during his confinement after the trial. He described three occasions when the patient attempted to escape from the Hospital. On one, he explained, the patient used a sharp cooking fork directed toward a custodian to effect his escape. He described the patient's...