State v. Ballou

I respectfully dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which holds that the recommitment of this defendant for a period of five years would be unconstitutional as an ex post facto application of the most recent amendment of RSA 651:ll-a (Supp. 1983).

To explain my disagreement, I begin with a consideration of the earlier proceedings in the case. In 1980, the defendant pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to an indictment charging that he had committed the criminal offense of second-degree assault that same year. See RSA 631:2 (Supp. 1983). The State and the superior court…