Court Opinion

ID: 9657880
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:40:12.083402+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:49.081380
License: Public Domain

Hallows, C. J.
(dissenting). I agree with the “internal dissent” of Mr. Justice Wilkie in the majority *656opinion. What the majority opinion does is to throw a roadblock in the path of an insane person. The majority opinion assumes the trial is so close in time after the commission of the alleged criminal act that a presumption of insanity at the time of sentencing can be accepted as a basis for a commitment under sec. 957.11 (3), Stats. As so construed, I believe the section is unconstitutional because it denies due process of law.
The testimony may show that the insanity at the time of the commission of the act was such that the insanity did not carry over until the time of the trial, yet the majority opinion would incarcerate the defendant without a hearing. There have been cases where a person has not been tried for years after the commission of the alleged criminal act because he was found unable to stand trial. Under the majority opinion, even though years later when he is sane enough to stand trial he would, if found not guilty because of insanity at the time of the commission of the act, be sent back to the hospital for the criminal insane without a hearing.
A person pleading insanity as a defense and being found not guilty on that ground should be detained for an automatic hearing upon his present mental condition. He should not be committed as an insane person because there is no affirmative finding at the time of his commitment that he is insane. This is glaringly true under the M’Naghten test of insanity because to be acquitted under that test the jury need only have a reasonable doubt of sanity. This doubt is far different than an affirmative finding of insanity upon which a man ought to be committed to the insane asylum. When confronted with the same problem of commitment without a hearing under the sex deviate law, this court held that due process required a hearing before a commitment. Huebner v. State (1967), 33 Wis. 2d 505, 147 N. W. 2d 646. I would require a hearing to determine affirmatively whether the defendant is still insane before he is committed.