Jones v. United States (463 U.S. 354)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 29, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 463 U.S. 354 · 103 S. Ct. 3043
- Decided
- June 29, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Powell
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Powell delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented is whether petitioner, who was committed to a mental hospital upon being acquitted of a criminal offense by reason of insanity, must be released because he has been hospitalized for a period longer than he might have served in prison had he been convicted. In the District of Columbia a criminal defendant may be acquitted by reason of insanity if his insanity is “affirmatively established by a preponderance of the evidence.” D. C. Code § 24 — 801(j) (1981). If he successfully invokes the insanity defense, he is committed to a mental hospital. §24-301(d)(l). The statute provides several ways of obtaining release. Within 50 days of commitment the acquittee is entitled to a judicial hearing to determine his eligibility for release, at which he has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he is no longer mentally ill or dangerous. § 24 — 301(d)(2). If he fails to meet this burden at the 50-day hearing, the committed acquittee subsequently may be released, with court approval, upon certification of his recovery by the hospital chief of service. §24-301(e). Alternatively, the acquittee is entitled to a judicial hearing every six months at which he may establish by a preponderance of the evidence that he is entitled to release. §24-301(k). Independent of its provision for the commitment of…
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