Warren v. Harvey
| Decision Date | 15 June 1979 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. H-77-206. |
| Citation | 472 F. Supp. 1061 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
| Parties | William J. WARREN v. Henry M. HARVEY, Acting Superintendent, Whiting Forensic Institute, Middletown, Connecticut. |
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Mary F. Keller, Yale Legal Services Organization, New Haven, Conn., for petitioner.
Ernest Diette, Jr., Asst. State's Atty., New Haven, Conn., for respondent.
Petitioner, William J. Warren, brings this action for a writ of habeas corpus challenging the constitutionality of his confinement at Whiting Forensic Institute, a state institution for treatment of committed mentally ill persons. His present involuntary confinement there is based on Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-47, which authorizes the confinement of an individual acquitted on grounds of insanity where that individual is "mentally ill to the extent that his release would constitute a danger to himself or others." The petitioner contends that by ordering that he be kept confined, the state has violated his constitutional right embodied in section I of the fourteenth amendment, which provides, "nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
William J. Warren was arrested for murder in the first degree on July 5, 1971. He was confined at Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH) on September 16, 1971, and was transferred to Whiting Forensic Institute (WFI) on September 29, where he remained for two years. In September 1973, petitioner was declared competent to stand trial and returned to jail to await trial. On February 27, 1974, petitioner was found not guilty by reason of insanity.1 Pursuant to Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-47(a), he was then ordered confined to CVH for an examination to ascertain whether he was presently mentally ill to such extent that his release would constitute a danger to himself or others.2 Under that statute, a person acquitted on grounds of mental disease or defect is temporarily confined in a state hospital pending an examination of his mental condition. Upon receipt of the reports of the examining doctors, the state court must schedule a hearing. If the court determines at the hearing that the preponderance of the evidence establishes that such person is "mentally ill to the extent that his release would constitute a danger to himself or others, the court shall confine such person in a suitable hospital or other treatment facility." Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-47(a)(4).
In the instant case the examining psychiatrist, Dr. Patrick Lee, filed a report pursuant to Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-47(a) on May 10, 1974. In his report, Dr. Lee stated that the petitioner exhibited no evidence of overt psychosis, that petitioner had been receiving tranquilizing medication since the time of his hospitalization, and that petitioner had presented no behavioral problems for the hospital. Petitioner's Exhibit A at 2a-3a (Appendix to Brief For The Defendant, State v. Warren, No. 7669, Conn. Supreme Court, Jan. Term 1975). Dr. Lee also stated that petitioner "would benefit from a further period of hospitalization." Id. at 3a.
At the required state Superior Court hearing on May 24, 1974, Dr. Lee testified that the petitioner was receiving Mellaril, an oral tranquilizer which former hospital patients commonly administer to themselves on an outpatient basis. Petitioner's Exh. A at 9a (transcript of May 24, 1974 hearing). He further testified that as long as petitioner was receiving this medication, petitioner was not a danger to himself or others in or outside the hospital. Id.
After the hearing, the state court concluded that "there is a strong possibility that the defendant, if released, might not continue use of the anti-psychotic medication without which he is a danger to himself or others," and "there is no certain means of controlling the taking of his medication once he is released from a mental institution." Petitioner's Exh. C at 11 (State v. Warren, No. 7699, Superior Court, New Haven County, May 31, 1974).3 The court then ruled that petitioner was mentally ill to the extent that his release would constitute a danger to himself or others and ordered petitioner confined to CVH for a term not to exceed 25 years, the maximum term allowed by the statute, Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-47(b). The state court concluded that "the salutary purposes of Conn.Gen. Stat. § 53a-47 would be defeated if under the circumstances of this case this defendant could walk out free on a promise to take his medication." Id. at 11.
Petitioner appealed this ruling to the Connecticut Supreme Court. He argued that the state had failed to produce any competent evidence which could form the basis for the lower court's findings and conclusions. Petitioner argued that in the absence of evidence of present dangerousness due to mental illness, his further confinement would violate the terms of Conn. Gen.Stat. § 53a-47 and his constitutional right to due process of law.
While petitioner's appeal of the first hearing was pending before the Connecticut Supreme Court, a second hearing before the state Superior Court was held on December 10, 1974 pursuant to Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-47(c).4 That section of the statute provides that where, as here, the semiannual written report required of the superintendent of the hospital concludes that the confined person is no longer mentally ill to the extent that his release would constitute a danger to himself or others, the court shall order the person released, unless the state at a hearing "establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that such person is, at the time of the hearing, mentally ill to the extent that his release would constitute a danger to himself or others." Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-47(c).5 Prior to this hearing, Doctors Lee and Voelkening of CVH filed separate reports with the state court stating that petitioner was taking tranquilizing medication and exhibited no symptoms of overt psychosis or thought disorder. Petitioner's Exh. A at 17a-22a. The reports stated that petitioner had been employed in the hospital print shop since his admission and had continued to abide by all hospital regulations. Id. In their respective reports and in their testimony at the hearing before the court, both doctors stated that if petitioner continued to take his medication and received outpatient psychiatric care, his release would not constitute a danger to himself or others. Petitioner's Exh. B at 19a, 29a, 31a, 48a-50a (transcript of Dec. 10, 1974 hearing).6
On December 18, 1974, the Superior Court issued its decision and ordered the petitioner returned to confinement at CVH for not in excess of the balance of 25 years. The state court concluded that where the symptoms of defendant's mental illness were "controlled" by the use of medication but where there was "no way to insure that the defendant would continue to take medication if he were released," petitioner's "release would constitute a danger to himself or others." Petitioner's Exh. E at 30 (State v. Warren, No. 17846, Superior Court, New Haven County, May 19, 1975).
In 1975, the Connecticut Supreme Court issued its decision on petitioner's appeal of the first state court decision. The court ruled that there was sufficient evidentiary support for the lower court's findings and conclusions and affirmed the lower court decision that Conn.Gen.Stat. § 53a-47 required petitioner's continued confinement at CVH. State v. Warren, 169 Conn. 207, 363 A.2d 91 (1975).
Following that ruling on petitioner's appeal, a third set of medical reports was filed with the Superior Court, and a third hearing was held in October of 1975. Reports were filed by Dr. Arafeh (Superintendent of Connecticut Valley Hospital), Dr. Lee, Dr. Voelkening, and Dr. Sheard (Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University). Petitioner's Exhs. J, K, L, M. These reports all stated that petitioner was free from overt psychosis and that his mental illness was in remission. The reports attributed petitioner's improved mental condition to the fact that he had responded well to the structured hospital environment and to the fact that he was being successfully treated with Prolixin, a tranquilizer administered by injection every two weeks. See id. Three of the four reports (those of Doctors Lee, Voelkening, and Sheard, Petitioner's Exhs. K, L, and M) concluded that petitioner was not mentally ill to the extent that his release would constitute a danger to himself or others,7 and the fourth (Dr. Arafeh, Petitioner's Exh. J) concluded that while petitioner did not "appear to be dangerous to himself or others" while at the hospital, "it is difficult to predict future potential dangerousness." After the hearing, the Superior Court ordered petitioner returned to CVH. Petitioner's Exh. I (State v. Warren, No. 17846, Superior Court, New Haven County, Nov. 4, 1975). In reaching its conclusion, the court held that the possibility that petitioner might at some point discontinue taking his medication gave rise to a possibility of dangerousness sufficient for purposes of Conn.Gen. Stat. § 53a-47 to justify petitioner's continued confinement at CVH. See Petitioner's Exh. I at 4-7.8 In December of 1975, petitioner was transferred from CVH to Whiting Forensic Institute, where he is presently confined.
Petitioner argues that his present confinement is in violation of his due process rights because the standard of proof of dangerousness adopted by the state courts at each of the above three hearings—at the initial hearing on May 24, 1974, at the second hearing on December 10, 1974, and at the third hearing in October 1975—impermissibly imposed an impossible burden upon himself or any other person seeking release after an insanity acquittal where that person's underlying mental illness is in remission and is controlled by medication. Petitioner argues that the state courts determined that he was dangerous because he could not...
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