Source: http://openjurist.org/225/f3d/982/united-states-of-america-v-howard-mcallister
Timestamp: 2013-12-11 08:48:15
Document Index: 442229123

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4246', '§ 4246', '§ 4246', '§ 4246', '§ 4246', '§ 4246', '§ 4247', '§ 4246', '§ 4246']

225 F3d 982 United States of America v. Howard McAllister | OpenJurist
225 F. 3d 982 - United States of America v. Howard McAllister	Home 225 f3d 982 united states of america v. howard mcallister
225 F3d 982 United States of America v. Howard McAllister 225 F.3d 982 (8th Cir. 2000)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APPELLEE,v.HOWARD MCALLISTER, APPELLANT
No. 99-3397
Submitted: June 12, 2000Filed: September 18, 2000
Before: Hansen and Heaney, Circuit Judges, and MILLS,1 District Judge.
This appeal raises a matter of first impression.
Does 18 U.S.C. § 4246(e) require a district court to conduct a hearing prior to conditionally releasing an individual who has been committed to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4246(d)?
We find that § 4246(e) does not require a hearing.
We also find that the conditions imposed upon Appellant as part of his release do not violate his constitutional or statutory rights.
Howard McAllister served in the United States Army for 27 years, attaining the rank of Sergeant Major before being retired in June 1991 on a full medical disability based upon his psychiatric condition.2
On July 24, 1991, McAllister allegedly shot a Department of Defense police officer and an Army sergeant. Evidently, the Army had permitted McAllister to stay in a dormitory room at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., pending its decision to retire him for medical reasons. When the police officer and the Army sergeant informed McAllister that he could no longer stay in the room at Walter Reed, he allegedly shot the Army sergeant in the chest and fatally shot the police officer.
On August 16, 1991, a federal grand jury sitting in Washington, D.C., returned a four count indictment against McAllister for the events which had occurred at Walter Reed.
On February 9, 1993, United States District Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the District of Columbia conducted a competency hearing in McAllister's criminal case. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Lamberth found by a preponderance of the evidence that McAllister was incompetent to stand trial because he was incapable of assisting in his own defense. Accordingly, Judge Lamberth ordered McAllister to be hospitalized for treatment of his delusional disorder. McAllister was then placed in the Federal Medical Center at Rochester, Minnesota ("FMC-Rochester").
On June 29, 1993, Judge Lamberth conducted a second competency hearing. At this second hearing, Judge Lamberth again found McAllister incompetent to stand trial. In making this determination, Judge Lamberth relied upon a report from FMC-Rochester's clinicians which indicated that McAllister "remain[ed] incompetent to stand trial and that there is not a substantial probability that, in the foreseeable future, he will attain the capacity to permit trial to proceed." Accordingly, Judge Lamberth ordered McAllister to undergo further evaluations and, if appropriate, that commitment proceedings be commenced against him pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4246(d).
On August 30, 1993, the Government filed a petition for commitment pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4246(d). United States District Judge David S. Doty of the District of Minnesota referred the petition to United States Magistrate Judge Floyd E. Boline who conducted an evidentiary hearing on November 17, 1993. At the hearing, staff psychologist and director of forensics at FMC-Rochester Mary Alice Conroy, Ph.D., testified that McAllister was still suffering from an unusual paranoid delusional disorder and that he could seriously hurt someone if he were to be released. On February 16, 1994, Magistrate Judge Boline found by clear and convincing evidence that McAllister suffered from a mental disorder or defect and that his release from confinement would create a substantial risk of injury to another person or property. Accordingly, Magistrate Judge Boline recommended that the Government's petition for commitment be granted and that McAllister be committed to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States. After conducting a de novo review, Judge Doty adopted Magistrate Judge Boline's report and recommendation in toto and ordered that McAllister be committed to the Attorney General's custody pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4246(d).
On December 11, 1996, McAllister filed a motion with Judge Doty asking him to review, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4247(h), his commitment order. In the motion, McAllister argued that, in the three years in which he had been at FMC-Rochester, he had shown no signs of being dangerous, and thus, he should be released from custody. Judge Doty referred the motion to United States Magistrate Judge John M. Mason who, after conducting an evidentiary hearing, found that McAllister had not established by a preponderance of the evidence that "he ha[d] recovered from his mental illness to such an extent that his release would no longer pose a danger to society." United States v. McAllister, 963 F. Supp. 829, 834 (D. Minn. 1997). Thereafter, Judge Doty adopted Magistrate Judge Mason's report and recommendation and denied McAllister's motion for review of his commitment order. Id. at 830.
On January 29, 1999, the warden at FMC-Rochester notified Judge Doty via a letter that, although McAllister continued to suffer from a major mental illness, FMC-Rochester's medical staff had concluded that McAllister could be conditionally released subject to a structured regimen of care. Specifically, the clinicians suggested that McAllister be moved to a residential care setting, initially on an in-patient basis and gradually be moved to an out-patient basis. The warden also informed Judge Doty that the South Carolina Department of Mental Health had agreed to accept McAllister for a 30-day psychiatric assessment with the intention of accepting him on a conditional release if the assessment indicated the potential for successful treatment. Accordingly, the warden recommended to Judge Doty that McAllister be released, subject to certain conditions, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4246(e).
On June 2, 1999, Judge Doty entered an order, without conducting a hearing, releasing McAllister from his § 4246(d) commitment subject to the conditions suggested by FMC-Rochester's clinicians. On June 11, 1999, McAllister's counsel filed a motion to modify two of the conditions imposed upon him by Judge Doty's June 2, 1999 order. Specifically, McAl