Chap. 339.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 4909, 4910, 4912, and 4913,
chapter 195; section 1045, chapter 46, Code of Virginia, 1919, in relation
to person charged with crime and whose sanity is doubted, the disposition
of such person when found insane or feeble-minded; disposition of persons
who become insane after conviction, and the disposition of insane or feeble-
minded persons charged with crime and confined in the department for
criminal insane at a State hospital or elsewhere, when restored ie sanity.

S B 181]
Approved March 19, 1920.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions four thousand nine hundred and nine, four thousand nine hun-
dred and ten, four thousand nine hundred and twelve, four thousand
nine hundred and thirteen, and one thousand and forty-five, of the
Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred and nineteen, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

Sec. 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—lIf, 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 con-
finement 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 diagnosis of
feeble-mindedness, not to exceed three, to examine the defendant be-
fore such commitment is ordered, and make such investigation of the
case as they may deem necessary, and report to the court the condi-
tion 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 hospitals, shall be delivered with such
person to the superintendent of the hospital to which he shall have
been committed under the provisions 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 removed to the depart-
ment for the criminal insane at the proper hospital is, in the opinion
of the superintendent, not insane or feeble-minded, or when such per-
son, if insane, has been restored to sanity, he shall forthwith be
brought back to the jail or custody from which he was removed, 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 render
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 certified to the audi-
tor 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 criminal 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.

Sec. 4910. Disposition of persons who become insane after con-
viction; duties of sheriff or sergeant as provided for in this and the
preceding section.—If, after conviction and before sentence of any per-
son, the court see reasonable ground to doubt his sanity or mentality,
it may impanel a jury or appoint a commission of insanity to inquire
into the fact as to his sanity or mentality, and sentence him, or com-
mit him to jail or to a hospital for the insane, according as the jury
or commission may find him to be sane or insane or feeble-minded.
If any person, after conviction of any crime, or while serving sentence
in the State penitentiary, or any other penal institution, or in any
reformatory or elsewhere, is declared by a jury or commission of in-
sanity to be insane or feeble-minded, he shall be committed by the
court to the department for the criminal insane at the proper hospital,
and there kept until he is restored to sanity ; and the time such person
is confined in the department for the criminal insane at the proper
hospital shall be deducted from the term for which he was sentenced
to such penal institution, reformatory or elsewhere.

The sheriff or sergenat of the court by which any of the orders
as provied for in this and the preceding section, shall have been
made, or the proper officer of the penitentiary or reformatory, shall
immediately proceed in the manner directed by section one thousand
and twenty-two to ascertain whether a vacancy exists in the depart-
ment for the criminal insane at the proper hospital, and until it is
ascertained that there is a vacancy, such person shall be kept in the
jail of such county or corporation, or in such custody as the court
may order, or in the penitentiary, or in the reformatory in which he
is confined, until there is room in the department for criminal insane
at the said hospital. Any person whose care and custody is herein
provided for shall be taken to and from the hospital to which he was
committed by an officer of the penal institution having custody of
him, or by the sheriff or sergeant of the county or corporation whose
court issued the order of commitment, and the expenses incurred in
such removals shall be paid by such penal institution, county or cor-
poration.

Sec. 4912. Sentence or trial of prisoner, when restored to sanity.
—When a prisoner is brought from a hospital and committed to
jail, or when it is found by a verdict of another jury that a prisoner,
whose trial or sentence was suspended by reason of his being found
to be insane or feeble-minded, has been restored, if convicted, he shall
be sentenced, and if not, the court shall proceed to try him as if no
delay had occurred on account of his insanity or feeble-mindedness.

Sec. 4913. Verdict of acquittal by reason of insanity to state the
facts ; court may commit the defendant to hospital for insane-—When
the defense is insanity or feeble-mindedness of the defendant at the
time the offense was committed, the jury shall be instructed, if they
acquit him on that ground, to state the fact with their verdict. If the
jury so find the court shall thereupon, if it deem his discharge danger-
ous to the public peace or safety, order him to be committed to one of
the State hospitals for the insane and be confined there under special
observation and custody until the superintendent of that hospital and
the superintendent of any other State hospital or feeble-minded colony
shall pronounce him sane and safe to be at large.

Sec. 1045. Disposition of insane persons convicted of crime when
restored to sanity——When any person, confined in the department for
the criminal insane at the proper hospital and charged with crime
subject to be tried therefor, or convicted for crime, shall be restored
to sanity the superintendent shall give notice thereof to the clerk
of the court by whose order he was confined, and deliver him in
obedience to the proper precept; provided, no person who has been
convicted for a crime punishable by death shall be so delivered until
the said superintendent and the superintendent of one of the other
State hospitals for the insane or colonies for feeble-minded, to be
designated by the commissioner of State hospitals, concur in the
opinion that the said person has been restored to sanity. When any
person charged with or indicted for any offense which may be pun-
ishable by death, has been adjudged insane, both at the time of the
offense and at the time when, but for such insanity, he would have
been tried, shall be ordered by the court to be committed to the depart-
ment for the criminal insane at the proper hospital, such person shall
not be discharged therefrom until the superintendent of that hospital
and the superintendents of two of the other hospitals or colonies,
designated by the commissioner of State hospitals, shall be satisfied,
after thorough examination, that such person has been restored to
sanity and may be discharged without danger to others, and provided
that such discharge is given upon the consent and advice of the com-
inissioner of State hospitals and the special board of directors of the
hospital in which such person is confined; provided, however, that
no person shall, in any case enumerated in this act, be denied the right
of a trial by jury as to his sanity or mentality, if he or she shall
so elect.

2. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent or in conflict with this
act are hereby repealed.

3. An emergency is hereby declared to exist, in consequence of
which this act shall be in force from its passage.