In re Brown

Citations

• 39 Wash. 160
• 81 P. 552
• 1905 Wash. LEXIS 835

Syllabus

<p>Insane Persons—Acquittal of Crime on Ground of Insanity— Imprisonment—Constitutional Law—Due Process of Law—Presumptions. One accused of murder, who submits a plea of insanity to trial by jury and is found not guilty by reason of insanity, may be confined in the county jail until the further order of the court, conformably to Bal. Code, § 6959, and is not deprived of his liberty without due process of law where he does not allege a restoration of sanity; since he was duly accorded a fair trial, and the presumption of insanity, once found, continues; and since the law does not prevent a judicial investigation as to restored sanity.</p> <p>Same—Cruel Punishment. The state has power to protect its people from dangerous insane persons by providing, after a full hearing, for their confinement in a prison while the condition continues, and such confinement does not violate the constitutional inhibition of cruel punishment.</p> <p>Same—Judgment—Certainty. An order for the confinement of a dangerous insane person until the further order of the court is not void for uncertainty, the order being subject to modification upon application.</p>