In the Matter of Robert Torsney, Appellant. State Commissioner of Mental Hygiene, Appellant; Eugene Gold, as…

Summary

A plurality of the New York Court of Appeals held that under CPL 330.20 a person acquitted of a crime by reason of mental disease or defect may be held only for a reasonable period of examination, and may be discharged or released on condition unless he is presently dangerous to himself or others by reason of a mental disease or defect for which he needs in-patient treatment; dangerousness alone, untethered to mental illness, cannot justify continued confinement. Applying that standard, the court found the unanimous hearing evidence showed Torsney was neither mentally ill nor dangerous and reinstated the hearing court's order of conditional release. Judge Meyer concurred separately, agreeing on the result but grounding the automatic commitment in the need for examination and the jury's finding of a violent act rather than any finding of insanity. Judge Wachtler, joined by Chief Judge Cooke and Judge Gabrielli, dissented and would have affirmed continued confinement.