People ex rel. Mallin v. Kuh

After a jury in the State of Maine acquitted respondent Beauchene of the crime of murder by reason of mental disease or defect, he was immediately committed to the Augusta State Hospital, a mental health institution, for care and treatment as required by Maine law (Maine Rev Stat, tit 15, § 103). Three years later, in 1973, following a sanity hearing, the Superior Court in Kennebec County, Maine, found respondent still presented a danger to himself and society and denied his request to be released from the hospital. Shortly thereafter he left the hospital, without authorization, and took up…