State v. Nielsen

960 P.2d 177, 131 Idaho 494, 1998 Ida. LEXIS 77
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJune 18, 1998
Docket22887
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 960 P.2d 177 (State v. Nielsen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Nielsen, 960 P.2d 177, 131 Idaho 494, 1998 Ida. LEXIS 77 (Idaho 1998).

Opinion

WALTERS, Justice.

Kermit Nielsen has been committed to a mental institution since his acquittal by reason of insanity in 1972 for the murder of his girlfriend. In October 1994, Nielsen filed a petition for conditional release pursuant to I.C. § 66-337(d) alleging that he was no longer mentally ill and that he did not fit the criterion for civil commitment. After a hearing on the state’s motion to dismiss the petition, the district court concluded that Nielsen’s petition should be dismissed because section (d) of I.C. § 66-337 had been struck down by this Court as unconstitutional following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U.S. 71, 112 S.Ct. 1780, 118 L.Ed.2d 437 (1992). See In re Gafford, 127 Idaho 472, 903 P.2d 61 (1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1173, 116 S.Ct. 1265, 134 L.Ed.2d 212 (1996), and In re Nielsen, 127 Idaho 449, 902 P.2d 474 (1995) (hereinafter cited as Nielsen I). Nielsen appealed from the district court’s order dismissing his petition, asking this Court to determine whether Nielsen may seek a conditional release from confinement under I.C. § 66-337(d). Because we conclude that those portions of I.C. § 66-337(d) not affected by Foucha remain viable after our decision in Nielsen I, we vacate the dismissal order of the district court and remand the matter for a hearing on Nielsen’s conditional release petition.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Nielsen is an insanity acquittee who was committed in 1972 to the custody of the Department of Health and Welfare pursuant to I.C. § 18-214. This statute, which spelled out procedures for review of an acquittee’s continued commitment and potential for conditional release, was subsequently repealed in 1982, along with the defense of mental illness in a criminal action. 1982 Idaho Session Laws, ch. 368, § 1, p. 919. In 1987, however, the legislature incorporated the provisions of former I.C. § 18-214 into a new section that was added to I.C. § 66-337, dealing with review, termination of commitment and discharge of mentally ill patients. 1987 Idaho Session Laws, ch. 59, § 2, p. 105. The new section (d) specifically addressed release provisions affecting persons, such as Nielsen, who were originally acquitted under I.C. § 18-213 which allowed for the acquittal of criminal defendants on the ground of mental illness. As stated in section (d):

Section 18-214 , Idaho Code, shall remain in full force and effect for every individual previously acquitted pursuant to section 18-213, Idaho Code. Section 18-214, Idaho Code ... is placed here for reference only and is not a reenactment of section 18-214, Idaho Code.

*496 In 1992 the United States Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a Louisiana statute allowing continued confinement of an insanity aequittee on the basis of his antisocial personality after a hospital review committee had reported no evidence of mental illness and recommended conditional discharge. Foucha v. Louisiana, supra. The Court concluded that the statutory scheme under which Foucha continued to be held violated due process by permitting the indefinite detention of insanity acquittees who are no longer mentally ill but who fail to prove they would not be dangerous to others. Id. at 83, 112 S.Ct. 1780. The Court further concluded that, in order to satisfy equal protection requirements, the statutory scheme allowing for Foucha’s continuing confinement based merely on dangerousness could not be sustained. Id. at 85, 112 S.Ct. 1780. The Court held that, as in the case of civil commitment proceedings, the burden must rest on the state to establish the insanity and dangerousness by clear and convincing evidence in order to confine an insane convict beyond the term of his criminal sentence, when the basis for his original confinement no longer exists. Id. at 86, 112 S.Ct. 1780.

Following the decision in Foucha, Nielsen filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus (Nielsen I) seeking release from confinement on the grounds that he was no longer mentally ill and that his continued confinement denied him due process of law. Although Nielsen’s petition was granted and his release was ordered by the magistrate, this Court reversed the order, holding that there was insufficient evidence to find that Nielsen no longer suffered from the mental condition that led to his acquittal. 127 Idaho at 452, 902 P.2d at 477. The Court restated in its opinion the constitutional requirement from Foucha that an insanity aequittee is entitled to be released, as a matter of due process, when the original basis for commitment no longer exists or the person is no longer dangerous. Id.

Before this Court’s opinion was issued in Nielsen’s habeas corpus ease, Nielsen submitted to the Bannock County District Court (the committing court) a petition for conditional release pursuant to I.C. § 66 — 337(d), commencing the instant case. He alleged, as he had in the earlier habeas corpus petition, that he was not currently mentally ill and that he did not fit the criterion to be held under a civil commitment. The state filed a motion to dismiss under I.R.C.P. 12(b)(8), asserting that the conditional release petition raised the same issues which were the subject of the habeas corpus proceeding, and thus was barred by res judicata. The district court denied the motion, finding that Nielsen’s petition under I.C. § 66 — 337(d) was not barred by the doctrines of res judicata or collateral estoppel. The district court further concluded that the findings as to the petitioner’s mental status in the habeas corpus proceeding, which were based on the reports of two psychologists, could not have a preclusive effect on the conditional release petition which required that the petitioner be examined by psychiatrists.

Nielsen filed a motion for the appointment of two qualified psychiatrists in support of his petition for conditional release. In a memorandum decision dated January 29, 1996, the district court denied the motion. Relying on Nielsen I, which had been released on August 16, 1995, the district court concluded that the provision of I.C. § 66-337 which entitled Nielsen to obtain an independent psychiatric evaluation was unconstitutional and thus, inoperable. Thereafter, the state filed a motion to dismiss which the district court granted, holding that Nielsen’s petition should be dismissed because it contained no allegations which would be effective under I.C. § 66-337(a) — (c), the only remaining viable portions of the statute after section (d) was ruled unconstitutional in Nielsen I. The district court found that the conditional release procedures, which were derived from former I.C. § 18-214 as it appeared in I.C. § 66-337(d), were unavailable and that Nielsen’s continued commitment could only be challenged through habeas corpus proceedings.

DISCUSSION

On appeal from the order dismissing his petition for conditional release, Nielsen argues that the district court improperly read

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960 P.2d 177, 131 Idaho 494, 1998 Ida. LEXIS 77, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-nielsen-idaho-1998.