In Re Application of Noel for Discharge Hearing

838 P.2d 336, 17 Kan. App. 2d 303, 1992 Kan. App. LEXIS 541
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedAugust 7, 1992
Docket66,501
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 838 P.2d 336 (In Re Application of Noel for Discharge Hearing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Application of Noel for Discharge Hearing, 838 P.2d 336, 17 Kan. App. 2d 303, 1992 Kan. App. LEXIS 541 (kanctapp 1992).

Opinions

Rulon, J.:

Carroll E. Noel, Jr., petitioner, participated in a hearing pursuant to K.S.A. 1991 Supp. 22-3428a to determine whether he was eligible for release from Lamed State Security Hospital. The district court found that petitioner was dangerous to others and ordered that he remain committed. Petitioner appeals, raising multiple issues.

We must determine: (1) if the district court erred by failing to consider petitioner’s conditional release; (2) if the district court erred by failing to order that petitioner be placed in a less restrictive environment; and (3) the significance of recently enacted amendments to K.S.A. 1991 Supp. 22-3428 and the recently decided United States Supreme Court case of Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U.S. _, 118 L. Ed. 2d 437, 112 S. Ct. 1780 (1992). We remand with instructions for further proceedings.

Factual History

In 1973, petitioner brutally stabbed and killed the postmaster of the Kansas City, Kansas, post office. In an opinion filed by our Supreme Court in 1979 in relation to an earlier application for discharge, the court summarized the facts concerning petitioner’s case as follows:

“Noel, a black male, has never married. He was approximately 38 years old at the time of commitment. Prior to the homicide, he was described as a quiet man who apparently had never broken the law, even to the point of acquiring a traffic ticket. Throughout his life he was characterized as a “loner’, unable to make friends or trust anyone. These characteristics began in childhood and became more pronounced as the years went by. Feelings of persecution developed, with Noel believing that people were laughing at him, ridiculing him, and plotting against him. In time, the feelings of [306]*306persecution deepened and became the dominant factor in his life. In 1972 he was working for the United States Post Office in Wyandotte County. By this time his condition had deteriorated to such a degree that outsiders were noticing that something was wrong. In 1972 Noel was complaining to the union steward and other authorities at the post office about plots against him and his sisters. The union steward concluded Noel had a serious psychiatric problem and urged Noel’s family to seek psychiatric treatment for him. As a result thereof, in June, 1972, Noel became a patient in the psychiatric ward of a Veterans Administration Hospital.
“In the V.A. Hospital Noel’s illness was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia. Even as early as 1972, the object of Noel’s delusions was the United States Postal Service. With tranquilizing medication, Noel’s symptoms were controlled. He was discharged from the hospital after a short stay, with instructions to continue taking the medication. Noel stopped taking the medication, apparently, shortly after his discharge. The delusions resurfaced with ever increasing intensity. Noel concluded the post office was going to force his sisters into prostitution; he saw postal trucks and their drivers as being armed with machine guns; and he believed a great postal conspiracy existed to harm him and his sisters. The postmaster, in Noel’s mind, became the head of the conspiracy and his chief tormentor. Voices told him he must kill the postmaster to end the danger.
“On November 29, 1973, after some two weeks of planning, Noel drove to the Kansas City, Kansas, post office, lawfully parked his car, concealed a long knife on his person, walked into the postmaster’s office, and stabbed the postmaster to death (inflicting nine separate wounds). After having completed the task he came to do, he remained in the office and offered no resistance when arrested.
“Noel was originally charged with murder in the federal court. Subsequently, this charge was dismissed and he was charged with first degree murder in the state court. While the federal charge was pending, Noel was examined, at federal request, by Dr. William V. McKnelly, Jr. Dr. McKnelly contacted the V.A. Hospital and obtained the data on Noel’s prior hospitalization. He testified at the state trial. The doctor concurred with the V.A. diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and characterized the V.A.’s release of Noel as a blunder. Dr. McKnelly’s testimony was thorough and showed extensive knowledge of Noel’s background and condition. The bottom line of the McKnelly opinion is that Noel is and always will be a paranoid schizophrenic; that his is an extreme case of the disease; that Noel’s potential for violent acts will remain; and that the disease may be suppressed in a structured setting with a low stress factor and daily appropriate administration of tranquilizing medication.
“At trial Noel was found not guilty because of insanity and he was committed to the State Security Hospital at Lamed. He was admitted to that facility on March 20, 1974.” In re Noel, 226 Kan. 536, 541-42, 601 P.2d 1152 (1979).

[307]*307On April 13, 1990, petitioner filed a K.S.A. 60-1501 petition in the Pawnee County District Court. The petition alleged: (1) that he was being held on “[f]alse and trumped up charges”; (2) that his confinement and restraint was unlawful; and (3) that he had been denied annual hearings for a 10-year period. For reasons which are not clear from the record, the district court did not directly consider petitioner’s action as a habeas corpus proceeding. Instead, the court appointed an attorney to represent petitioner and a notice was sent to the Clinical Director of the Larned State Security Hospital indicating that petitioner had requested an annual hearing to which he was entitled pursuant to K.S.A. 1991 Supp. 22-3428a.

At the hearing on the petition, the court considered a written Forensic Staff Conference Summary from members of the staff of the State Security Hospital dated April 20, 1990, and a written summary of an independent psychiatric evaluation performed by Dr. William S. Logan, a psychiatrist and director of the Department of Law and Psychiatry at the Menninger Clinic in Topeká. The court also heard oral testimony from Dr. Logan; from Harold Dixon, a psychologist on the staff of the State Security Hospital; and from Dr. William R. Suleiman, a staff psychiatrist with the State Security Hospital, all of whom had recently interviewed Noel.

All of the witnesses agreed upon a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenic, chronic. Dixon and Dr. Suleiman classified this condition as “in remission.” Dr. Logan disagreed with any finding that petitioner’s condition was in remission.

The evidence showed petitioner’s condition has existed since at least 1972. He has exhibited no physical violence since 1974, and although petitioner has made some veiled threats against others, he has never threatened anyone with the immediate apparent ability to carry out those threats. Petitioner has generally been cooperative, compliant, and friendly toward others.

Petitioner was further characterized as quiet, withdrawn, suspicious of others, and guarded. He isolates himself from others, has few peer relationships, and reveals little about his inner thoughts.

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In Re Application of Noel for Discharge Hearing
838 P.2d 336 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1992)

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Bluebook (online)
838 P.2d 336, 17 Kan. App. 2d 303, 1992 Kan. App. LEXIS 541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-application-of-noel-for-discharge-hearing-kanctapp-1992.