Chavez v. Director, Patuxent Institution

Per Curiam. This is an application for leave to appeal from an order of March 13, 1967 by Judge Joseph R. Byrnes, sitting in the Crimi ⁴⁶ nal Court of Baltimore, determining that applicant Maximilianoe Paul Chavez is still a defective delinquent as defined in Maryland Code, Article 31B, Section 5 (1967 Repl. Vol.). Applicant was originally convicted in the Criminal Court ol Baltimore on April 17, 1962 of larceny and related crimes by Judge Shirley B. Jones and sentenced on that day to not more than three years in the Maryland State Reformatory For Males, the sentence to date from January 15, 1962.

On February 10, 1964 an order was entered transferring the applicant to Patuxent Institution for examination as a possible defective delinquent. A medical report was filed on June 15, 1964 by the Director of Patuxent Institution recommending that the applicant be committed as a defective delinquent. On January 18, 1965 the applicant was found to be a defective delinquent by Judge Meyer M. Cardin and was then committed to Patuxent Institution. An application for leave to appeal was denied by the Court of Appeals on October 11, 1966.

Chavez v. Director, 243 Md. 725 . An Interval Psychiatric Report, dated February 14, 1967, prepared by the institutional staff, recommended that the applicant continue to be classified as a defective delinquent. A psychiatric report of Philip F. Lerner, M.D., on March 3, 1967, concluded that the applicant was no longer classifiable as a defective delinquent. On March 13, 1967, petitioner was brought before Judge Joseph R. Byrnes, sitting without a jury, in a re-determination hearing and was found on that date to still be a defective delinquent.

In his application for leave to appeal the applicant contends that his recommitment to Patuxent Institution was against the weight and sufficiency of the evidence, and that the State did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the applicant was still a defective delinquent. Defective delinquent proceedings, being civil in nature, require a fair preponderance of proof to sustain a finding, the burden of persuasion being upon the State to show that the party is or remains a defective