Opinion ID: 284813
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Adequacy of Existing Remedies

Text: 56 The state has vigorously argued that Schuster has already received all rights to which he is entitled in his 1963 state habeas corpus hearing. We believe however, as did the Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals, that habeas corpus is not an adequate substitute for a proper pre-commitment hearing. The writ was available to the patients in both Baxstrom and Lally, yet neither court deemed this remedy sufficient. Instead they concluded that equal protection required the same procedural protection for ex-prisoners and those acquitted by reason of insanity as was afforded those civilly committed. See Cameron v. Mullen, supra, at 201; Bolton v. Harris, supra. Schuster's 1963 hearing indicates how inadequate the great writ can be in circumstances such as this. Only one doctor testified, and he was a man in whom Schuster placed no trust. The insubstantiality of that doctor's testimony may be characterized as follows: Schuster believes in corruption. I don't believe such corruption existed, ergo Schuster is insane. 57 In particular, the burden of proof in a habeas corpus proceeding is traditionally upon the petitioner. Bolton v. Harris, supra. In the case before us, the district court's finding on the crucial question of corruption was simply that Schuster has failed to sustain the burden of proof on this issue. In a commitment proceeding, by contrast, the burden traditionally seems to have been on the state. Moreover, it may well be that the New York courts will no longer permit habeas corpus as a proper remedy for prisoners committed under § 383 in the belief that the amendment of that section in 1962 obviated the need for the writ, granted for the first time just one year before the amendment in People ex rel. Brown v. Johnston. See People ex rel. Carroll v. Herold, 27 App. Div.2d 958, People ex rel. Conover v. Herold, 24 App.Div.2d 773, 263 N.Y.S. 2d 858 (3d Dept.1965); N.Y. Bar Report n. 26 at 23. 11