Willard G. Tribby v. Dale Cameron, Superintendent, St. Elizabeths Hospital

EDGERTON, Senior Circuit Judge:

This appeal is from an order discharging a writ of habeas corpus. Appellant was committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital in 1960 pursuant to D.C.Code (1961) § 24-301(d), which provides that a person tried on a criminal charge and acquitted solely on the ground that he was insane at the time of the offense shall be confined in a mental hospital.

The Government concedes in its brief that appellant is “receiving little or no treatment; at least this was true at the time of the hearing.” During the four months preceding the hearing in the District Court he had seen a…