CHAPTER 657

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 19.1-283, and 19.1-239 as amended,
of the Code of Virginia, relating to compensation and expenses, of
physicians and clinical psychologists in proceedings on question of
insanity, and commitment and release procedures when defendant
acquitted by reason of insanity or feeblemindedness. -

[H 229]

Approved April 5, 1968

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 19.1-233, and 19.1-239 as amended, of the Code of Virginia,
be amended and reenacted, as follows:

§ 19.1-238. Expenses of physicians, etc.—*Hach expert or phy-
sician or clinical psychologist skilled in the diagnosis of insanity or fee-
blemindedness or * other physician appointed by the court to render *
professional service pursuant to § 19.1-228 or to subparagraph (1) and
(2) of § 19.1-289, who is not regularly employed by the State of Virginia,
or, if regularly employed by the State of Virginia but on authorized leave
therefrom, shall * receive a fee of thirty dollars * for each examination
and report thereof to the court * and, if he be required to appear as a
witness in any hearing held pursuant to such sections, shall receive mile-
age * and a fee of thirty dollars for each day during which he is required
so to serve. Itemized account of expense, duly sworn to, must be presented
to the court, and when allowed shall be certified to the Comptroller for
payment out of the State treasury, and be by him charged against the
appropriation made to pay criminal charges. Allowance for the fee and
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.

§ 19.1-239. Verdict of acquittal by reason of insanity to state the
fact; commitment; release.—(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 place him in temporary custody
of the Commissioner of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals, hereinafter re-
ferred to as the Commissioner, and appoint three physicians or two phy-
sicians and one clinical psychologist, skilled in the diagnosis of insanity
and feeblemindedness, to examine the defendant and make such investiga-
tion as they may deem necessary in order to determine whether or not, at
the time of their examination, he is insane or feebleminded and to deter-
mine whether his discharge would be dangerous to the public peace and
safety or to himself and to report their findings to the court. If the court is
satisfied by the report, or such testimony of the examining physicians or
clinical psychologist as it deems necessary, that the defendant is insane or
feebleminded or that his discharge would be dangerous to public peace
and safety or to himself, the court shall order him to be committed to
the * custody of the Commissioner. Otherwise, the defendant forthwith
shall be discharged and released.

(2) If the superintendent of the State mental * hospital in which
a person is * confined under paragraph (1) of this section is of
the * opinion that a person committed to his custody, pursuant to para-
graph (1) of this section, 7s not insane or feebleminded and may be
discharged or released * without danger to * the public peace and safety
or to himself, he shall make application for the discharge or release of
such person in a report to the court by which such person was committed
and shall transmit a copy of such application and report to the Com-
monwealth’s attorney * for the city or county from which the defendant
was committed. * Upon receipt of * such application for discharge or
release, the court forthwith shall * appoint at least two qualified psychia-
trists, one of whom shall be the superintendent of a State mental in-
stitution other than the one in which the person is confined, to examine
such person and to report within sixty days * their opinion as to his
mental condition. To facilitate such examination and the proceedings
thereon, the * Commissioner shall transfer such person to * the appro-
preate State mental institution located nearest the place where the court
sits.

(3) If the court is satisfied by the application and report seeking
the release or discharge of the committed person filed pursuant to para-
graph (2) of this section and by the report or such testimony of the
reporting psychiatrists, appointed pursuant to paragraph (2) of this
section, as the court deems necessary, that the committed person * ts not
insane or feebleminded and that his discharge or release will not be
dangerous to the public peace and safety or to himself, the court shall
order his discharge or * release. * If the court is not so satisfied, it
shall promptly order a hearing to determine whether * the committed
person * is at that time insane or feebleminded and to determine whether
his discharge would be dangerous to the public peace and safety or to
himself. Any such hearing shall be deemed a civil proceeding and the
burden shall be * on the committed person to prove that he * is not
insane or feebleminded and that his discharge would not be dangerous
to the public peace and safety or to himself. According to the determina-
tion of the court upon * such hearing, the committed person shall there-
upon be discharged or released * or shall be recommitted to the custody
of the * Commissioner. It shall be the * duty of the superintendent of
the institution in which such person is confined, at yearly intervals com-
mencing six months after the date of confinement, to make a report of *
such person’s condition to the court from which * he was committed.*
* & *

(5) At yearly intervals commencing six months after the date of
confinement, and not more frequently, a committed person may make ap-
plication to the court by which he was committed for his discharge or
release and the procedure to be followed upon such application shall be
the same as that prescribed above in the case of an application by the
superintendent of the * institution in which such person is * confined.

6) No trial court in this Commonwealth, other than the court
which ordered the commitment of a person committed pursuant to para-
graph (1) of this * section, 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), (3)
and (5) of this * section shall be appealable to the Supreme Court of
Appeals as in other civil cases except appeals of right.

(7) Costs of the services of physicians * or clinical psychologists
Ap ees by this * section shall be * paid by the State as provided in

19.1-233.

(8) In applying this section the term “feebleminded” shall be con-
strued to mean a person who is adjudicated legally incompetent because
of mental deficiency by a court of record in which he is charged with
crime and who is also found to lack the mental condition to enable him
to be ypncharaed without danger to the public peace and safety or to

emself.