People v. Metesky

71 Misc. 2d 519, 336 N.Y.S.2d 581, 1972 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1535
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 26, 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 71 Misc. 2d 519 (People v. Metesky) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Metesky, 71 Misc. 2d 519, 336 N.Y.S.2d 581, 1972 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1535 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1972).

Opinion

Simoh J. Libbowitz, J.

Defendant seeks an order directing a jury trial of Ms condition of insamty to determine whether he is a “ dangerous incapacitated person ” whose detention is to be continued at Matteawan State Hospital. Defendant had been indicted on February 18,1957, among other counts, for attempted murder. He was found to be incapable of standing trial and [520]*520was committed to Matteawan on April 18,1957 as a dangerous incapacitated person.” Defendant has been continuously confined for a period of 15 years, which is short of the two-third maximum term (25 years) for the highest class felony for which defendant was indicted. To further detain defendant in Matteawan, a security hospital under the jurisdiction of the Department of Correction, the Director of the hospital gave notice to deferídant pursuant to article, 730 of the CPL of an application for an order to continue the custody of defendant as a dangerous incapacitated person.” Upon defendant’s request, a hearing was ordered but was held without a jury. Defendant, however, had reserved his right to a jury trial. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court determined that defendant was still a dangerous incapacitated person ” and issued an order of retention for a period of one year.

Prior to these proceedings defendant, together with others confined at Matteawan (persons indicted on felony charges but unable to stand trial) commenced a civil rights action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to declare section 662-b of the Code of Criminal Procedure and its successor, article 730 of the CPL, unconstitutional. They contended that they alone of all classes of mentally ill are not accorded the right to a jury trial as to dangerousness before commitment or continuance of detention at Matteawan. Subsequent to defendant’s hearing in this court on the Director’s application for an order of retention, a convened three-Judge district court declared old section 662-b of the Code of Criminal Procedure and subdivision 1 of section 730.60 of the CPL “ unconstitutional * * * by failing to provide [protection to defendant’s class’s right of] a jury trial to determine dangerousness as a condition to confinement in hospitals operated by the Department of Correction.” (Gomez v. Miller, 341 F. Supp. 323, 333). The District Court noted that, of the mentally ill, a jury trial was accorded to only those not charged with a crime (Mental Hygiene Law, § 85) or charged with misdemeanors but not yet tried (CPL 730.50, subd. 1; 730.60, subd. 3) or acquitted by reason of mental disease or defect (CPL 330.20, subd. 6) or convicted of a crime whose sentences are about to expire (CPL 730.70, subd. 2). In pointing up the anomalous situation of defendant, who must be presumed innocent, the court projected in vivid color on the screen of civil rights the inequity of treatment accorded defendant’s class.

Detention in a State hospital under the Department of Correction (Dannemora and Matteawan) as distinguished from a [521]*521hospital under the Department of Mental Hygiene is graphed in harsh hues in United States ex rel. von Wolfersdorf v. Johnston, 317 F. Supp. 66; United States ex rel. Schuster v. Herold, 410 F. 2d 1071, cert. den. 396 U. S. 847; Neely v. Hogan, 62 Misc 2d 1056; and Matter of Anonymous, 69 Misc 2d 181). So different are the rights of the inmates that the court, in United States ex rel. von Wolfersdorf v. Johnston (supra), held that incarceration in Matteawan for 20 years of one determined insane and unable to stand trial with no likelihood of his ever being brought to trial constituted cruel and inhuman punishment.

Article 730 of the GPL does not specifically accord defendant a right of jury trial. To declare the article or sections thereof unconstitutional as it relates to defendant’s class would be a simple matter (see People v. McCloud, 62 Misc 2d 1086; Baxstrom v. Herold, 383 U. S. 107; Gomez v. Miller, supra). However, any semblance of rationality disappears when persons indicted but not convicted of a crime are deprived of their right to a jury trial while such a trial is granted to those who have been convicted or to those who were acquitted solely by virtue of their mental condition. ‘1 The policy of this court has always been to construe statutes in such a manner as to uphold their constitutionality ” (People v. Bailey, 21 N Y 2d 588, 596) and so long as the purpose of the statute is not perverted by requiring a jury trial and “no rational justification [can be found] for withholding these safeguards ” (Bolton v. Harris, 395 F. 2d 642, 652), article 730 of the GPL must be construed to require them. A method employed by the Court of Appeals in People v. Lally (19 N Y 2d 27), People v. Bailey (supra), and Matter of Buttonow (23 N Y 2d 385) to insure those safeguards is to read into the applicable statute the right of a jury trial.

Careful examination of the sections of article 730 of the GPL in the light of the established policy to uphold their constitutionality reveals the following:

(a) Subdivisions 3 and 4 of section 730.30 provide for a hearing to determine “ the issue of capacity or dangerousness ”.
(b) Subdivision 1 of section 730.50 requires “a superior court, following a hearing conducted pursuant to subdivision three or four of section 730.30 ” (in a de novo determination of incapacity) “ [i] f it is satisfied that the defendant is an incapacitated person * * * when the indictment charges a felony * * * must issue an order of commitment committing the defendant to the custody of the commissioner for care and treatment in an appropriate institution ”.
[522]*522(c) Subdivision 2 of section 730.50 relates to inmates as in the instant case and requires a hearing when one is demanded before issuing an order of retention if the court ‘ is ¡satisfied that the defendant continues to be an incapacitated person or is or continues to be a dangerous incapacitated person
(d) Subdivision 3 of section 730.60 provides “that when a defendant is in custody pursuant to an order of commitment or an order of retention and he has been adjudicated a dangerous incapacitated person, the commissioner may transfer him to any appropriate institution operated by the department of mental hygiene or the department of correction.” At this point the procedure dealing with civil patients as outlined in article 5 of the Mental Hygiene Law is substantially .similar. Significantly, the very next sentence of subdivision 3 provides “ "When a defendant is in custody pursuant to a final or temporary order of observation, the commissioner may transfer him to an appropriate institution operated by the department of correction [Dannemora or Matteawan] in the manner prescribed by section eighty-five * * * of the mental hygiene law.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
71 Misc. 2d 519, 336 N.Y.S.2d 581, 1972 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-metesky-nysupct-1972.