Matter of Neal E.
Annotate this CaseDecided on May 10, 2013
Supreme Court, Kings County
In the Matter of an Application for a Recommitment Order Pursuant to CPL 330.20 in Relation to Neal E., a Patient at Kingsboro Psychiatric Center
3359/84
Attorney for the Petitioner:
Office of the Attorney General, State of New York
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
by Deputy Attorney General Jason Buskin
#212-416-8000
Attorney for the People:
Charles J. Hynes
District Attorney, Kings County
350 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
by ADA David Kelly
#718-250-3091
Attorney for the Respondent:
Lesley M. DeLia, Director
Mental Hygiene Legal Services, Second Judicial Dept
170 Old Country Road, Room 500
Mineola, NY 11501
by Lanielle Roche, Esq.
#516-746-4373
Matthew J. D'Emic, J.
Petitioner, Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, applies to the court for an order recommitting [*2]the respondent to a secure psychiatric facility pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law §330.20 (14) in that he is presently dangerously mentally ill. The Kings County District Attorney joins in the application and a hearing was held before the court.
The application is granted.
STATEMENT OF FACT
On May 26, 1984, defendant was arrested for the murder of his mother. He was found not fit to proceed to trial and remained in that limbo for almost seven years, until he entered a plea of not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect in June 1991 (CPL §220.15). He was transferred to a secure psychiatric facility until June 1994, when his doctors determined he could be safely managed in a non-secure facility. In 2009, he was discharged from the non-secure facility to the community on an order of conditions. The defendant complied with the conditions of his release, received injectable psychotropic medication every two weeks and attended his day treatment program regularly. Although he evidenced no signs of psychosis, in September 2011 he was arrested for raping a woman in the street while hovering over her with his genitals exposed. This arrest is the reason for the recommitment proceeding.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
On an application for a recommitment of a defendant found not responsible to a secure forensic facility, the law requires a hearing be held "to determine if the defendant has a dangerous mental disorder which must be proven by the petitioner by a preponderance of the evidence (Matter of George L., 85 NY2d 295; People v Vadim B., 18 Misc 3d 1126 [A]).
In this case, Doctor Noel Almiron, defendant's treating psychiatrist at his out-patient clinic, testified that the defendant suffers from residual schizophrenia, even though no symptoms of the disease were present up until the day before his arrest. Although the lack of symptoms is important, it is not overriding.
The brutality of the allegations and the fact that they were reportedly committed in a brazen, conspicuous manner, demonstrate that this defendant, even though compliant with his psychiatric treatment, is unpredictable with impaired judgment. As such, he poses a danger to others and requires treatment in a secure facility. The court finds that petitioners have met their burden of proof and that recommitment under CPL §330.20 (14) is necessary to satisfy "the State's interest in protecting the public safety, safeguarding the rights of insanity acquittees and providing treatment for those acquittees who suffer from a mental illness" (In re Ernst J., 292 AD2d 528).
This constitutes the Decision and Order of the court.
____________________________
Matthew J. D'Emic
J.S.C.
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