Chap. 377.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 4909 of the Code of Vir.
ginia, as amended, relative to committal, for observation of persons chargec
with crime whose mental condition is questioned. [H B 351)

Approved March 24, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sectior
forty-nine hundred and nine of the Code of Virginia, as amended, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 4909. If, prior to the time for trial of any person chargec
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 ot
the judge thereof may, after hearing evidence on the subject, commit
such person to any State hospital for the insane best adapted to meet
the needs of the case except in the case of a colored person the commit-
tal shall be to the Central State 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 physi-
cians skilled in the diagnosis of insanity, or other qualified physicians,
and when any person is alleged to be feeble-minded may likewise ap-
point persons skilled in the diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, not to ex-
ceed three, to examine the defendant before such commitment is or-
dred, and make such investigation of the case as they may deem neces-
sary, 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 com-
mission, 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 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 pre-
scribed 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, 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 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 comp-
troller 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 comptroller, 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.