Coard v. State

We granted certiorari in these cases to determine the proper standard of proof to be applied in commitment proceedings involving persons found not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the commission of a crime. When the cases were tried, the statutory standard of proof in commitment proceedings was a preponderance of the evidence. See Williams v. Superintendent, 43 Md. App. 588, 593, 406 A.2d 1302, 1305-06. The lower courts found that the committees in these cases had been properly committed under the preponderance standard. In No. 95, the Court of Special Appeals reversed the trial…