CHAPTER 659

An Act to amend and reenact § 19.1-289, as amended, of the Code of
Virginia, relating to verdict of acquittal by reason of insanity and
mandatory commitment of persons acquitted by jury on ground of
insanity or feeble-mindedness, and providing for release from commit-
ment, petition therefor and conditions thereon, and recommitment.

[H 89]
Approved April 6, 1966

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 19.1-289, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 19.1-239. (1) 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, * and the court shall * order him to be committed to the * appro-
priate State mental hospital for the criminally insane. *

(2) If the superintendent of the State mental institution to which a
person 1s committed under paragraph (1) of this section is of the view
that a person committed to his custody, pursuant to paragraph (1) of this
section, may be discharged or released on condition without danger to
himself or to others, he shall make application for the discharge or release
of such person in a report to the court by which such person was com-
mitted and shall transmit a copy of such application and report to the
Commonwealth’s Attorney of the county from whitch the defendant was
committed. However, no application may be made by the superintendent
until three months shall have elapsed from the date ‘of the defendant’s
confinement. Upon receipt of the application for discharge or release, the
court shall thereupon appoint at least two qualified psychiatrists to exam-
ine such person and to report within sixty days, or such longer period as
the court determines to be necessary for the purpose, their opinion as to
his mental condition. To facilitate such examination and the proceedings
thereon, the court may cause such person to be confined in any institution
located near the place where the court sits, which may hereafter be desig-
nated by the superintendent as suitable for the temporary detention of
trresponsible persons. It shall be the additional duty of the superintendent,
at yearly intervals commencing six months after the date of confinement,
to make a report of the defendant’s condition to the court from which the
defendant was committed, and to send by registered mail a copy of said
report to such friend or relative of the defendant as the court shall appoint,

(3) If the court is satisfied by the report seeking the release of the
committed person filed pursuant to paragraph (2) of this section and such
testimony of the reporting psychiatrists as the court deems necessary that
the committed person may be discharged or released on condition without
danger to himself or others, the court shall order his discharge or his
release on such conditions as the court determines to be necessary. If the
court is not so satisfied, it shall promptly order a-hearing to determine
whether such person may safely be discharged or released. Any such hear-
ing shall be deemed a civil proceeding and the burden. shall be upon the
committed person to prove that he may safely be discharged or released.
According to the determination of the court upon the hearing, the com-
mitted person shall thereupon be discharged or released on such condt-
tions as the court determines to be necessary, or shall be recommitted to
the custody of the superintendent of an appropriate State mental institu-
tion for the criminally insane, subject to release only in accordance with
the procedure prescribed above for a first hearing.

(4) If, within (five) years after the conditional release of a com-
mitted person, the court shall determine, after hearing evidence, that the
conditions of release have not been fulfilled and that for the safety of such
person or for the safety of others his conditional .release should be re-
voked, the court shall forthwith order him to be recommitted to the super-
intendent of an appropriate State mental institution for the criminally
ansane, subject to discharge or release only in accordance uith the proce-
dure prescribed above for a first hearing.

(5) A committed person may make application for his discharge or
release to the court by which he was committed, and the procedure to be
followed upon such application shall be the same as that prescribed above
an the case of an application by the superintendent of the hospital in which
suck person is committed. However, no application by a committed person
need be considered until he has been confined for a period of not less than
siz months from the date of the commitment order, and if the determina-
tion of the court be adverse to the application, such person shall not be
permitted to file a further application until one year has elapsed from the
date of such adverse determination.

(6) No trial court in this Commonwealth, other than the court which
ordered the commitment of a person committed pursuant to paragraph
(1) of this proposed revision, shall have jurisdiction. to entertain any
action seeking the release of such person committed pursuant to paragraph
(1), whether the release is sought through application for a writ of habeas
corpus or otherwise. Errors committed or allowed by the court having
jurisdiction over the release proceedings set forth in paragraphs (2) and
(3) of this proposed revision, shall be appealable to the Supreme Court of
Appeals as in other civil cases except appeals of right.

(7) Costs of physicians utilized pursuant to this proposed revision
shall be borne by the State.