Opinion ID: 5438
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The IDRA's Impact

Text: Shannon argues strongly that the trial court's ruling left the jury with no guidance as to the actual implications of its verdict. As a result, the confused jury fell captive to the misconception that only two real options existed -- guilty (go to jail) or not guilty/NGI (go free). Because they feared that a dangerous, mentally-ill person would be released if they returned an NGI verdict, they were induced to reject his insanity defense, however meritorious it may have been.5 Appealing to the McCracken court's concern that uninformed and frightened juries might convict while 5 Shannon has not shown that in deliberating, the jury in this case actually entertained these misconceptions, failed to follow the judge's instructions, or considered extraneous factors that colored its verdict. 8 still questioning a defendant's sanity, Shannon urges us to apply common sense and justice.6 Shannon asserts that Congress's passage of the IDRA constitutes a statutory change that mandates, or at least authorizes, the instruction he seeks. Because the justification for a different rule in different parts of the federal system has now been removed, Shannon argues, the practice announced in Lyles must now be applied nationwide. We must disagree that the IDRA alters the calculus. The statute enacted a comprehensive scheme for dealing with insanity in federal criminal cases. Yet it has no provision expanding the jury's role. It has no wording that even touches upon this role. It leaves the jury solely with its customary determination of guilt or innocence. For support, Shannon cites the Eighth Circuit's opinion in United States v. Neavill, 868 F.2d 1000 (8th Cir.), vacated, reh'g en banc granted, 877 F.2d 1394 (8th Cir.), appeal dismissed, 886 6 The instruction Shannon desires could actually work to his disadvantage and cause him more harm than good. As the Third Circuit perceptively noted in Government of V.I. v. Fredericks: A juror who is convinced that a defendant is dangerous, but who believes [the defendant] did not . . . commit the [offense] charged, might be willing to compromise on a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity rather than insist on an acquittal. 578 F.2d 927, 936 (3d Cir. 1978). Moreover, a jury could assume that due to overcrowded mental hospitals, strapped social services budgets, sympathetic judges, etc., a defendant will be released after only a short period of commitment. To combat the prospect of early release, the jury could simply opt to find him guilty. The mandatory instruction Shannon seeks, therefore, seems to be fraught with the same prejudice and jury confusion he wants to avoid. 9 F.2d 220 (8th Cir. 1989). In Neavill, the panel found that the IDRA permitted it to re-examine former precedent, in which the court had joined this Circuit and others in rejecting the Lyles rationale. In reaching its decision, the court relied heavily on a Senate Committee report that endorsed the D.C. Circuit's rationale: The [Senate] Committee endorses the procedure used in the District of Columbia whereby the jury, in a case in which the insanity defense has been raised, may be instructed on the effect of a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. If a defendant requests that the instruction not be given, it is within the discretion of the court whether to give it or not. S. Rep. No. 98-225, 98th Cong., 1st Sess. 240, reprinted in 1984 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin. News 3182, 3422 (footnotes omitted). Neavill, however, has no current precedential value. As the citation makes clear, it was vacated by operation of law when rehearing en banc was granted and then was dismissed at Neavill's request prior to reconsideration by the full Circuit. Shannon likewise emphasizes the Act's legislative history and insists that it illustrates Congress's intentions. We agree, however, with the Ninth Circuit's refusal to disregard the statute's clarity by embracing the committee report: This statement does not have the force of law nor does it purport to interpret or explain ambiguous language in the statute regarding instructions. See International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 474 v. NLRB, 814 F.2d 697, 712 (D.C. Cir. 1987)(While a committee report may ordinarily be used to interpret unclear language contained in a statute, a committee report cannot serve as an independent source having the force of law. . . . [C]ourts have no authority to enforce principles gleaned solely from legislative history that 10 has no statutory reference point. (emphasis in original)(citations omitted)). United States v. Frank, 956 F.2d 872, 881 (9th Cir. 1991), cert. denied, -- U.S. --, 113 S.Ct. 363, 121 L.Ed.2d 276 (1992).7 In McCracken, 488 F.2d at 423, we said that a specific statutory provision was required to justify an enhanced jury role. We do not have it here. The IDRA does not expressly provide that a jury be instructed regarding mandatory commitment procedures. In contrast, Congress explicitly dealt with what juries should be told by way of instruction when a psychiatric defense is raised. 18 U.S.C. § 4242(b) provides: If the issue of insanity is raised . . . the jury shall be instructed to find, or, in the event of a nonjury trial, the court shall find the defendant -- (1) guilty; (2) not guilty; or (3) not guilty only by reason of insanity. (emphasis added) It is noteworthy that Congress was explicit in directing what issues should be raised, yet said nothing about informing juries of the consequences of any of the three choices. Courts may not properly attempt to discern what Congress, while remaining quiet, assumed would happen. Absent an affirmative statutory requirement that juries be granted a sentencing role, we adhere to the 7 Justice Stevens wrote an opinion respecting the denial of the writ of certiorari in Frank. He stated that the rule should be that the district court must give the disputed instruction to the jury. 11 established axiom that it is inappropriate for a jury to consider or be informed about the consequences of its verdict. Finally, the other peripheral sources that Shannon cites for support are likewise devoid of statutory anchors and do not compel a different result. Specifically, Shannon notes that the ABA Standards address the issue and recommend that the proposed instruction be given. II ABA Standards for Criminal Justice No. 7- 6.8 (2d ed. 1986). Moreover, he insists that the prevailing trend among the states favors requiring or authorizing the instruction. Thomas M. Fleming, Annotation, Instructions in State Criminal Case in which Defendant Pleads Insanity as to Hospital Confinement in Event of Acquittal, 81 A.L.R. 4th 659, 667 (1990). These sources are no authority to abandon our long-standing precedents without congressional mandate. Our decision today is grounded upon the traditional roles of judges and juries and rooted in the Act's plain language. Three other circuits have examined the issue. None has taken the passage of the Act to mandate such an instruction. Frank, 956 F.2d at 881; United States v. Blume, 967 F.2d 45, 49 (2d Cir. 1992); United States v. Barnett, 968 F.2d 1189, 1192 (11th Cir. 1992). Two of the Circuits permit judges to provide such information, one in narrow and possibly justifiable circumstances and the other more broadly. 12 In Frank, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's refusal to instruct the jury on the effect of an NGI verdict, holding that the IDRA fails to enlarge the jury's role beyond the traditional guilt/innocence determination. But the Court qualified its holding, concluding that prosecutorial misconduct which suggests that those persons found innocent by reason of insanity are released into society properly may warrant a curative instruction to correct the error and abate jury anxiety or confusion. 956 F.2d at 881. In Barnett, the Eleventh Circuit followed the holdings of Rogers and McCracken: Punishment, or the lack thereof, is a matter entrusted to the trial judge. 968 F.2d at 1192. The opinion does not expressly discuss whether instructional discretion exists in certain cases, but seems to intimate that it does not. A recent panel of the Second Circuit was also divided on the issue. Blume, 967 F.2d at 50. Judge Lumbard, writing for the Court, stated that the Senate Committee report's language leaves the instructional decision to the district court's discretion; Judge Newman, writing separately, urges that the instruction should always be given unless the defendant requests its omission, but he adjusted his position to join Judge Lumbard and give the Court a majority position in favor of the