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9/20/1973 - The Case of Alfred Curt von Wolfersdorf by Jeffrey L. Steingarten

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT WRITER S CONSENT IISTITUTB OF CURREIT WORLD AFFAIRS The Case Alfred Curt Wolfersdorf Nan Who Was Held Years Without Trial Freed BINGHATON N Y Dec AP Eighty eight Alfred Curt Wolfersdorf released yesterday Binghamton State Hospital after spending years institutions because murder convicted commit Sporting jacket shoes hospital escorted daughter Cross heart I never anything wrong Wolfersdorf newsman several weeks received would released He Joseph L Paonessa accused murder Robert Leonard N Y Poughkeepsie where Wolfersdorf lived The found shack bullet Paonessa executed Sing Sing prison Wolfersdorf atteawan St Hospital Criminally Insane where years without trial He later transferred Binghamton freed WedneSday Bruce Ennis lawyer American Civil Liberties Union started action finally Wolfersdorf freedom A district attorney decided there evidence against judge dismissed charges The judge there speck evidence which could tried New York Times December West Street New York New York lOOll September Richard H Nolte Institute Current World Affairs Fifth Avenue New York New York lOO17 Dear Nolte The Alfred Curt Wolfersdorf routinely reported A P patch December relayed Times historic decision whose Se lawyer decades But raises issues field psychiatry I thought I would discuss length I first learn about W plight lawyer Bruce Ennis The evidence implicating W testimony Jee Paonessa later confessed murder himself electrocuted Paonessa accounts crime wildly incensistent sometimes implicating W sometimes It likely W tried aleng Paonessa would freed credible evidence against event ceurt country weuld convicted after chief witness executed But W never tried The District Attor unaccountably requested sanity examination W found mentally incompetent stand trial corollary committed indeterminate atteawan For twenty years W resided various New York State mental institutions He innocent class incompetent prove innocence He gainst aradoxical binds health Catch During decades incarceration pretense treat illness He rarely centact psychiatrists except eriodically requested interviews release stand trial clear himself Hos pital records report clean quiet agreeable sociable ethers interested tivities Each entry record includes cryptic iprovement What W illness The psychiatrists initially examined found intelligent opera memory He distracted He heard voices visions The ground which judged insane absurd beliefs existence secret seciety called Civil Peliti Correctien Service agent society named Red A bizarre belief deubt But turns belief The Service exist something remnant German American B founded twenties Red member Peughkeesie house painter named Clifferd Red Zimmerman The District At torney these facts W feund incempetent because absurd beliefs Judge Jehn Schwartz atteawau Narch These facts typical include instance District Attorney pressured public arrest suspect became embarrassmmnt culprit confessed But issues raise general nature Shouldn Sixth Amend right speedy trial apply judged incom petent stand trial That shouldn permitted stand trial though incompetent might prove innocence despite mental disability Even psychiatrists originally interviewed W correct intelligible standard denies could himself could assist could understand charges againmt basic ingredients competency stand trial Why trial And whether reasonable psychiatrist might grounds calling insane qualified decide whether stand trial lawyer psychiatrist barely acquainted requirements preparing defense If accused presumed innocent under Anglo Saxon system justice Why should incarcerated hospital inally insane Whose sheuld standards sanity insanity institutional psychiatrists prison system payroll psychiatric profession large legislative representatives Have right incarcerate mental disability without insuring receive least seine treatment disability Test cases concerning these related legal issues state Federal courts sonsored growing number lawyers projects psychiatry these cases ensure mistakes undone cases further They begin question usefulnesS categories insane social consequences attach When accused crime alone guaranteed multitude procedural safeguards insure fairness objectivity before during after trial right right counsel restrictive rules evidence definite sentences forth Only deprive liberty But accused insanity regardless whether accused crime typically ignore these protectiens instead entrust question liberty doctor The madness complicated frightening cemfort experts entrusted esoteric knowledge arcane skills define madness general determine given belongs category Yet conveniently categorized And whether should deprive libmrty simply because doctor labels anether question altegether What asking psychiatrist whether under examination likely gerous future Is psychiatrist likely reliable prediction Probably there statistical evidence psychiatrists accurate predicting petential Violence And mental patients shown statistically likely average cemmit violent crimes Is proper under system guess peten violence simply because cused crime committed which presume commit Psychiatrists group doubt answering variety useful questions hired answer questio beyond their present foreseeable skills understand predict better might maybe worse I uncommon psychiatrist label insane because W doctor doesn believe story turns And there shortage psychiatrists willing several other impessible tasks prediction classification prison outside According study reported Sc ience magazine January arbitrary determinations mental illness appear general variety hospitals The hospital setting alone instills presumption mental illness against those presentthsmselves presented against their examination Some writers charged institutional psychiatry century analogue Spanish Inquisition leper houses century Europe fulfilling public creation perse cution class Others argue power medicine social control Involuntary hospitalization still U S S R repress dissidents And hospitalization country similar Under Illinois statute example husband could cemmitted state asylum without dence insanity required other cases Is simply glaring instance common institutional psychiatry cemmonly instrument power While I little doubt insanity social medical concept often recruited service social I think either these charges explains current attitudes points clearly alternate future It arrive fuller explanation Sincerely Jeffrey Steingarten Received New York September