Chap. 496.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 4909 of the Code of
“Virginia, as amended by an act approved March 19, 1920. [H B 211]

Approved March 28, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion forty-nine hundred and nine of the Code of Virginia, as amended
by an act approved March nineteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty,
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 4909. When sanity of accused to be tried; if sane, trial
to proceed; if sane when offense committed, or at trial, what the
court to do.—If, prior to the time for trial of any person charged
with crime, either the court or attorney for the Commonwealth has
reason to believe that such person is in such mental condition that
his confinement in a hospital for the insane or a colony for the
feeble-minded is necessary for proper care and observation, the said
court or the judge thereof may, after hearing evidence on the subject,
commit such person to the department for the criminal insane at
the proper hospital under such limitations as it may order, pending
the determination of his mental condition, and in such case the court,
in its discretion, may appoint one or more physicians skilled in the
diagnosis of insanity, or other qualified physicians, and when any
person is alleged to be feeble-minded may likewise appoint persons
skilled in the diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, not to exceed. three, to
examine the defendant before such commitment is ordered, and make
such investigation of the case as they may deem necessary, and
report to the court the condition of the defendant at the time of
their examination. A copy of the complaint or indictment, attested
by the clerk, together with the report of the examining commission,
including, as far as possible, a personal history, according to the
form prescribed by the general board of directors of the State hos-
pitals, shall be delivered with such person to the superintendent of
the hospital to which he shall have been committed under the pro-
visions of this act. |

If a court, in which a person is held for trial, see reasonable
ground to doubt his sanity or mentality at the time at which, but
for such a doubt, he would be tried, it shall suspend the trial and
proceed as prescribed in the foregoing paragraph or until a jury
inquires into the fact as to the sanity or mentality of such person.
Such jury shall be impaneled at its bar. If any such person so re-
moved to the department for the criminal insane at the proper hos-
pital is, in the opinion of the superintendent, not insane or feeble-
minded, or when such person, if insane, has been restored to sanity,
the said superintendent shall give ten days’ notice in writing to the
clerk of the court from which such person was committed, and shall
send such person back to the jail or custody from which he was re-
moved, where he shall be held in accordance with the terms of the
process by which he was originally committed or confined.

If the jury or commission find the accused to be sane at the time
of their verdict, they shall make no other inquiry, and the trial in
chief shall proceed. If the jury find that he is insane or feeble-
minded at the time of their verdict, they shall further inquire whether
or not he was insane or feeble-minded at the time of the alleged
offense ; if they find that he was also insane or feeble-minded at the
time of the alleged offense the court may dismiss the prosecution
and shall order him to be removed thence to the department of the
criminal insane at the proper hospital, there to be detained until
he is restored to sanity. If they find that he was not insane or
feeble-minded at the time of the alleged offense, but is now insane
or feeble-minded, the court shall order him to be confined in the
department for criminal insane at the proper hospital until he is
so restored that he can be put upon his trial.

The experts or physicians skilled in the diagnosis of insanity or
feeble-mindedness, or the physicians appointed by the court to ren-
der the foregoing professional service shall be paid at the rate of
fifteen dollars per diem, and mileage during attendance upon court
in the trial of such cases. Itemized account of expense, duly sworn
to, must be presented to the court, and when allowed shall be certi-
fied to the auditor of public accounts for payment out of the State
treasury, and be by him charged against the appropriation made to
pay criminal charges. Allowance for the per diem authorized shall
also be made by order of the court duly certified to the auditor of
public accounts for payment out of the appropriation to pay crimi-
nal charges.

The superintendent shall from time to time, or as often as the
court may require, inform the court of the condition of the said
person while confined in the hospital.