134 N.H. 630 | N.H. | 1991
This Rule 7 appeal follows from an order of the Superior Court {Dunn, J.), denying a petition for writ of habeas corpus. Thé petitioner, committed to State psychiatric care following the acceptance of a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, contends that application of the current version of RSA 651:ll-a, I (hereinafter the “five-year version”) by the superior court in his 1987 renewal hearing was retrospective and in violation of article I, part 23 of the New Hampshire Constitution. He challenges the statutory authority of the superior court to issue its 1987 order that he stand committed for a term subject to renewal hearing review in five, rather than two, years. As we determine that the five-year version of RSA 651:ll-a, I,
Since May 22, 1982, RSA 651:ll-a, I, has provided that orders of committal to State psychiatric facilities following insanity pleas are valid for five years. A committal order under this section must be renewed after a hearing if the court finds that the State has met its burden of proof and shown that the committed party “suffers from a mental disorder and that it would be dangerous for him to go at large.” Id. Prior to May 22, 1982, the statutory provision employed similar language, but committal orders under that version of the statute (hereinafter the “two-year version”) were valid for only two years. See Laws 1975,388:4. The committed party retained his rights to challenge committal at any time, as was done in this case, but in such challenges he bore the burden of going forward, both practically and legally, and he also bore a preponderance burden on the matters alleged. See State v. Ballou, 125 N.H. 304, 310-11, 481 A.2d 260, 263 (1984).
On May 19, 1983, petitioner Richard Iandolo pled not guilty by reason of insanity to a crime alleged to have occurred on November 30, 1981, and for which an indictment was returned on January 5, 1982. The superior court committed him to a psychiatric facility and ordered recommittal twice: once in 1985 and, again, in 1987. During the renewal proceedings in 1987, the State and the petitioner, who acted with the advice of counsel, executed a stipulation, apparently in exchange for committal to a less restrictive psychiatric facility. This document provided that “the [petitioner] should be ordered committed to the secure psychiatric unit for a period of five years.” The stipulation also stated that the petitioner could “petition the Court for approval of a suitable parole plan at any time.” An order incorporating this stipulation was approved by the Superior Court 0O’Neil, J.) on March 6, 1987.
In 1990, the petitioner filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, challenging the constitutionality of ordering him to stand committed for five, rather than two, years. This was denied by the superior court on alternative grounds. The court first held that the five-year version of the statute could be lawfully applied to the defendant because his plea and initial committal were made after the effective date of the five-year version of RSA 651:ll-a, I. It then noted that, even if the five-year version of the statute was not applicable, the 1987 stipulation constituted a waiver of any right the petitioner had to application of the two-year version.
Our State Constitution forbids the promulgation or application of retrospective laws, deeming them “highly injurious, oppressive, and unjust,” and ordering that “[n]o such laws, therefore, should be made, either for the decision of civil causes, or the punishment of offenses.” N.H. CONST, pt. I, art. 23. The underlying purpose of this prohibition is ‘“to prevent the legislature from interfering with the expectations of persons as to the legal significance of their actions taken prior to the enactment of a law.’” Petition of Public Serv. Co. of N.H., 130 N.H. 265, 280, 539 A.2d 263, 271 (1988) (quoting State v. Vashaw, 113 N.H. 636, 637-38, 312 A.2d 692, 693 (1973)), appeal dismissed, 488 U.S. 1035 (1989). The insanity plea in the original proceeding against this petitioner occurred after the effective date of the five-year version. The alleged criminal conduct and the accompanying indictment, however, both occurred before the effective date of the five-year version, during the period when the two-year version was in force.
We have previously considered the possible retrospective application of the five-year version of RSA 651:ll-a, I. In State v. Ballou, 125 N.H. 304, 481 A.2d 260, we found such an application and held it unlawful, where the defendant underwent an initial two-year commitment prior to the effective date of the five-year version and was then the object of a petition brought by the State seeking to have him recommitted for a five-year term following the expiration of his two-
Our Ballou opinion did not, however, specify the “operative fact” in the chronology of that case that made application of the five-year version to that defendant retrospective. The identification of this fact remained for our opinion in State v. Robb, 125 N.H. 581, 484 A.2d 1130 (1984), where we further explained Ballou. We distinguished the situation of the Robb defendant, whose insanity plea, we noted, “was accepted in 1973, before the effective date of” the 1975 version of RSA 651:ll-a, I, see Laws 1975, 388:4, which first provided a defendant the right to periodic review of his or her commitment. 125 N.H. at 588-89, 484 A.2d at 1135 (emphasis added). Because the five-year version of RSA 651:ll-a was not more onerous than the pre-1975 law and did not, therefore, impose a new onus upon the Robb defendant, we directed the trial court to reconsider its implied holding that paragraph I of the statute was an unconstitutional retrospective law. Id. at 589, 484 A.2d at 1135. We specifically contrasted the facts in Ballou, because there, “the provisions of [the five-year version of RSA 651:ll-a, I] were more onerous after 1982 than they had been on October 22, 1980, the date of the defendant's insanity plea." Id. at 589, 484 A.2d at 1135 (emphasis added).
We hold that the date of a defendant’s insanity plea, not the date of the underlying alleged criminal conduct, governs the deter
Because, in this case, the five-year version was in effect on the date of the insanity plea, we hold that there was no error in the 1987 decision of the superior court to order the petitioner to stand committed for a five-year renewable term, and, therefore, no error in the denial of the habeas corpus petition.
In light of our finding of propriety in the application by the trial court of the five-year version, we do not address the issue of the trial court’s authority to accept the stipulation.
Affirmed.