H-3457              _______________________________________________

 

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 2456

                        _______________________________________________

 

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

 

By Representatives Locke, Crane, Padden, H. Myers, Brough, Winsley, Rector, Dellwo, Kremen, O'Brien and P. King

 

 

Read first time 1/12/90 and referred to Committee on Judiciary.

 

 


AN ACT Relating to procedures for asserting the criminal mental defenses of insanity and diminished capacity; and amending RCW 10.77.010, 10.77.030, and 10.77.080.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

        Sec. 1.  Section 1, chapter 117, Laws of 1973 1st ex. sess. as last amended by section 3, chapter 420, Laws of 1989 and RCW 10.77.010 are each amended to read as follows:

          As used in this chapter:

          (1) A "criminally insane" person means any person who has been acquitted of a crime charged by reason of insanity, and thereupon found to be a substantial danger to other persons or to present a substantial likelihood of committing felonious acts jeopardizing public safety or security unless kept under further control by the court or other persons or institutions.

          (2) "Indigent" means any person who is financially unable to obtain counsel or other necessary expert or professional services without causing substantial hardship to the person or his or her family.

          (3) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of social and health services or his or her designee.

          (4) "Department" means the state department of social and health services.

          (5) "Treatment" means any currently standardized medical or mental health procedure including medication.

          (6) "Incompetency" means a person lacks the capacity to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or her or to assist in his or her own defense as a result of mental disease or defect.

          (7) No condition of mind proximately induced by the voluntary act of a person charged with a crime shall constitute "insanity".

          (8) "Furlough" means an authorized leave of absence for a resident of a state institution designated for the custody, care, and treatment of the criminally insane, consistent with an order of conditional release from the court under this chapter, without any requirement that the resident be accompanied by, or be in the custody of, any law enforcement or institutional staff, while on such unescorted leave.

          (9) "Developmental disability" means the condition defined in RCW 71A.10.020(2).

          (10) "Developmental disabilities professional" means a person who has specialized training and three years of experience in directly treating or working with persons with developmental disabilities and is a psychiatrist or psychologist, or a social worker, and such other developmental disabilities professionals as may be defined by rules adopted by the secretary.

          (11) "Habilitative services" means those services provided by program personnel to assist persons in acquiring and maintaining life skills  and in raising their levels of physical, mental, social, and vocational functioning.  Habilitative services include education, training for employment, and therapy.  The habilitative process shall be undertaken with recognition of the risk to the public safety presented by the individual being assisted as manifested by prior charged criminal conduct.

          (12) "Psychiatrist" means a person having a license as a physician and surgeon in this state who has, in addition, completed three years of graduate training in psychiatry in a program approved by the American medical association or the American osteopathic association and is certified or eligible to be certified by the American board of psychiatry and neurology.

          (13) "Psychologist" means a person who has been licensed as a psychologist pursuant to chapter 18.83 RCW.

          (14) "Social worker" means a person with a master's or further advanced degree from an accredited school of social work or a degree deemed equivalent under rules adopted by the secretary.

          (15) "Individualized service plan" means a plan prepared by a developmental disabilities professional with other professionals as a team, for an individual with developmental disabilities, which shall state:

          (a) The nature of the person's specific problems, prior charged criminal behavior, and habilitation needs;

          (b) The conditions and strategies necessary to achieve the purposes of habilitation;

          (c) The intermediate and long-range goals of the habilitation program, with a projected timetable for the attainment;

          (d) The rationale for using this plan of habilitation to achieve those intermediate and long-range goals;

          (e) The staff responsible for carrying out the plan;

          (f) Where relevant in light of past criminal behavior and due consideration for public safety, the criteria for proposed movement to less-restrictive settings, criteria for proposed eventual discharge from involuntary confinement, and a projected possible date for discharge from involuntary confinement; and

          (g) The type of residence immediately anticipated for the person and possible future types of residences.

          (16) "Diminished capacity" means the existence of a mental disorder that negates a mental state required for the commission of a crime but does not include self-induced intoxication that does not otherwise amount to a mental disorder.

 

        Sec. 2.  Section 3, chapter 117, Laws of 1973 1st ex. sess. as amended by section 3, chapter 198, Laws of 1974 ex. sess. and RCW 10.77.030 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) Evidence of insanity or diminished capacity based upon a mental disorder is not admissible unless the defendant, at the time of ((arraignment or within ten days thereafter)) the omnibus hearing or at such later time as the court may for good cause permit, files a written notice of his intent to rely on such a defense.

          (2) Insanity is a defense which the defendant must establish by a preponderance of the evidence.

 

        Sec. 3.  Section 8, chapter 117, Laws of 1973 1st ex. sess. as amended by section 7, chapter 198, Laws of 1974 ex. sess. and RCW 10.77.080 are each amended to read as follows:

          The defendant and the prosecuting attorney may jointly move the court for a judgment of acquittal on the grounds of insanity:  PROVIDED, That a defendant so acquitted may not later contest the validity of his detention on the grounds that he did not commit the acts charged.  ((At the hearing upon said motion the defendant shall have the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he was insane at the time of the offense or offenses with which he is charged.))  If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant should be acquitted by reason of insanity, it shall enter specific findings in substantially the same form as set forth in RCW 10.77.040 as now or hereafter amended.  If the motion is denied, the question may be submitted to the trier of fact in the same manner as other issues of fact.