Commonwealth v. Cook

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Arnold,

In 1939 Paul James Cook committed a brutal triple murder, and was committed to the Farview State Hospital for the criminally insane. There he remained for some eighteen years. In September 1942 armed with wrenches, Cook and another patient attacked and assaulted the guards in an attempt to escape. On October 4, 1955 Cook and five other patients armed with shop weapons overcame the guards and escaped through a weakened wall beneath Cook’s cell. Subsequently Cook was apprehended in East St. Louis, Illinois and was returned to Farview State Hospital on April 21, 1956…