Opinion ID: 2069196
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Marlowe's Case

Text: On April 23, 1985, following a stipulated trial, appellant Marlowe was found not guilty by reason of insanity of second degree burglary, two counts of destroying property and second degree theft. On March 3, 1988, Marlowe filed a motion, pursuant to D.C.Code § 24-301(k), for conditional release which would allow him to live with his family in New York State and receive outpatient treatment at the Rochester Psychiatric Center (Psychiatric Center). The motion proposed a release order that authorized the center to return Marlowe summarily to inpatient status in its sole discretion if he violated the conditions of release or if his mental condition deteriorated. The court entered an interim release order on August 2, 1988, with conditions approved by the Hospital, which allowed Marlowe to travel to New York for an in-person evaluation. Among the conditions were that the Hospital could withhold the release if Marlowe's mental condition deteriorated. On September 20, 1988, the court issued another order for conditional release that allowed Marlowe to reside with his mother for thirty days and to be evaluated for outpatient treatment at the Park Ridge Community Mental Health Center (Park Ridge). This order required Marlowe to maintain close contact with the Hospital, keeping it informed of his psychiatric treatment. The order also required the Hospital to seek Marlowe's immediate return pursuant to D.C.Code § 24-301(i) (1996) if he violated any condition of release or if it received information from any source indicating a deterioration in Mr. Marlowe's mental condition. On October 28, 1988, the court (Judge Luke Moore) entered an order which required Marlowe to continue his outpatient treatment at Park Ridge and to reside with his mother until Park Ridge consented to his move to another address. The order required Park Ridge to notify the Hospital by telephone if Marlowe failed to continue his treatment and respond reasonably to all legitimate inquiries concerning his location, treatment and mental state made by the Superior Court, the Hospital, or the U.S. Attorney's Office. This order did not contain a provision for summary rehospitalization as the earlier orders did. Marlowe was convicted of second degree burglary in New York, and on November 23, 1990, he commenced serving a sentence of two to six years at the Elmira Correctional Center in Elmira, New York. On April 9, 1991, the Commission on Mental Health (Commission) notified the Superior Court so that a Detainer can be issued for [Marlowe's] return to Saint Elizabeths Campus for evaluation and treatment. The Commission sent a copy of its letter to the United States Attorney's Office, but it did not notify Marlowe's counsel of record. On April 16, 1991, the Superior Court (Judge Franklin Burgess, Jr.) entered a Forthwith Attachment Order of Return, directing the United States Marshal to return Marlowe to the Hospital upon release from the Elmira Correctional Center, and thereafter, the U.S. Marshal filed a detainer for Marlowe with the Center. On January 7, 1993, the Hospital informed the Superior Court by letter that Marlowe was scheduled to appear before the parole board in New York in October 1993, with a conditional release date of November 28, 1993, and that a detainer was on file at the Correctional Facility. Marlowe's counsel did not learn of the detainer until Marlowe contacted him. On November 10, 1993, Marlowe's counsel filed an emergency motion to vacate the attachment order and thereby remove the detainer. However, Marlowe's release date was advanced, and he was taken into custody by the Marshal on November 19, 1993, before the motion had been decided. Marlowe's counsel filed a second emergency motion for release from custody, arguing that the attachment order was unauthorized and improper. The government opposed the motion, and the court (Judge Weisberg) denied it after a hearing held on December 21, 1993. Marlowe noted an appeal from this order. The court granted Marlowe's request for a prompt hearing to determine whether indefinite inpatient hospitalization was the least restrictive alternative and set a hearing for January 4, 1994. Marlowe agreed to three postponements of the hearing because the Hospital indicated that he did not seem to require long-term hospitalization. When he was not released as quickly as he had hoped, Marlowe requested, and was granted, a hearing on his motion for restoration of conditional release and return to New York under a modified version of the 1986 order. After argument, Judge Weisberg denied the motion.