United States v. Clayton

• Decision Date: 09 November 1960
• Docket Number: 20282.,No. 20278,20278
• Citation: 202 F. Supp. 592
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Jack Roy CLAYTON, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

202 F. Supp. 592

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Jack Roy CLAYTON, Defendant.

Nos. 20278, 20282.

United States District Court W. D. Missouri, W. D.

November 9, 1960.

Edward L. Scheufler, U. S. Atty., O. J. Taylor, Asst. U. S. Atty., Kansas City, Mo., for plaintiff.

George V. Aylward, Jr., Kansas City, Mo., for defendant.

RIDGE, District Judge.

Respondent has complied with the memorandum order issued by this Court under date of October 26, 1960.

It now appears from the files and records in this case that there is no factual basis for any issue premised in the proposition that defendant was mentally incompetent at the time he entered pleas of guilty to the several charges made against defendant in the several counts of the indictment in each of these cases.

The record reveals that defendant was sentenced by this Court on October 24, 1958. Under his commitment to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States, he was first lodged in the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. On January 9, 1959, defendant was given a psychiatric examination by the Staff Psychologist and Neuro-psychiatric Board of that institution. On that date he was certified as psychotic and his transfer to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, at Springfield, Missouri, was thereafter recommended as provided in Section 4241, Title 18 U.S. C.A. While it was the opinion of the Neuropsychiatric Board of Leavenworth Penitentiary that defendant, on January 9, 1959, did show an acute psychosis, it was the Board's further opinion that there was no reason to believe that the defendant was mentally incompetent to stand trial on the charges made against him in this Court.

On his transfer to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, at Springfield, Missouri, another psychiatric examination was made of defendant, on April 29, 1959. The Staff Psychiatrist who then examined petitioner had before him a copy of the pre-sentence investigation report used by this Court in the sentencing of defendant. Seemingly the defendant attributed the mental illness from which he was then suffering to events which happened while confined in jail awaiting transfer to Leavenworth Penitentiary. This, manifestly, was subsequent to his appearance in this Court, at time of sentence.

The diagnosis made of defendant on April 29, 1959, was that of "schizophrenic reaction, acute undifferentiated type, in the process of remitting," etc. It was noted by the Staff Psychiatrists that the question of defendant's mental illness was apparently not considered at the time of his trial. That is true: No question was ever raised before this Court at the time of the entry of defendant's pleas of guilty and sentence, in respect to any mental illness of defendant that would militate against such a plea and sentence being imposed upon him thereunder.

At the annual review of defendant's mental illness on May 18, 1960, by the Neuropsychiatric Staff of the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, at Springfield, Missouri, the Staff was of the opinion that "the presence of a mental illness of psychotic degree observed in this man (defendant) during the period of his treatment at Leavenworth and at the Medical Center, and information about his behavior in jail indicates the probability that Clayton was mentally ill at the time of trial and sentence." As a consequence of such conclusion, the Psychiatric Staff expressed the opinion that there is probable cause to believe that defendant was not able to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding, nor did he have a rational, as well as a factual, understanding of the proceedings against him, and recommended to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons that a certificate be issued in accordance with Section 4245, Title 18, U.S.C. The record establishes that the Director of the Bureau of Prisons reviewed such recommendation of the Psychiatric Staff of the Medical Center. On June 24, 1960, the Director noted the conflict between the findings of the Neuropsychiatric Board of Leavenworth Penitentiary, as made on January 9, 1959, to the effect that defendant was not mentally incompetent to stand trial; and, that made by the Neuropsychiatric Staff of the Medical Center, on April 27, 1960, and called for a clarification of the apparent contradiction between the findings of such staffs, because, upon the facts before him he did not believe he could make a certificate under Section 4245, as the record then stood. On June 29, 1960, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons was informed by respondent that the Staff of the Medical Center, in submitting its progress report as of May 18, 1960, recognized the discrepancy between its opinion and that of the Examiners at Leavenworth Penitentiary, and that on the basis of the record they agreed that the Director of the Bureau of Prisons could not make a certification under Section 4245.

Although the Neuropsychiatric Board of Leavenworth Penitentiary and the Neuropsychiatric Staff of the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, at Springfield, Missouri, had before it a copy of the pre-sentence investigation which this Court used in the sentence of defendant, they did not have a copy of the transcript of the record as made by this Court at the time of sentence. As above stated, no question was raised before this Court as to any mental illness resident in defendant at the time he was sentenced by this Court. He was represented by counsel of his own choice who made a protracted appeal to the Court for mercy and leniency. For...