Billingsley v. Birzgalis

After a Wayne County Circuit Court jury found plaintiff not guilty, by reason of insanity, of unlawfully driving away an automobile, 1 he was ordered committed to the Department of Mental Health pursuant to the “automatic commitment statute.” 2 The department placed plaintiff in the Ionia State Hospital where he remained until November, 1968, when be was released on convalescent status. 3

Tbe present appeal arose in June, 1968, after plaintiff’s petition for babeas corpus was denied by tbe Ionia County Circuit Court on tbe ground that tbe existence of a statutorily provided judicial remedy for…