LD 1177
pg. 1
LD 1177 Title Page An Act To Limit the Early Release of Persons Convicted of Certain Crimes Page 2 of 2
Download Bill Text
LR 457
Item 1

 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

 
Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §104-A, sub-§1, as corrected by RR 1995, c. 2, §28
and amended by PL 2003, c. 689, Pt. B, §§6 and 7, is further
amended to read:

 
1. Release and discharge. The term "release," as used in
this section, means termination of institutional in-patient
inpatient residency and return to permanent residency in the
community. The head of the institution in which a person is
placed, under section 103, shall, annually, forward to the
Commissioner of Health and Human Services a report containing the
opinion of a staff psychiatrist as to the mental conditions of
that person, stating specifically whether the person may be
released or discharged without likelihood that the person will
cause injury to that person or to others due to mental disease or
mental defect. The report must also contain a brief statement of
the reasons for the opinion. If a person who has been found not
criminally responsible by reason of mental disease or mental
defect under section 103 for the crime of murder or a Class A
crime is the subject of a report finding that the person may be
released, the report must specifically describe the supervision
that the Department of Health and Human Services must provide to
ensure that the person takes any medication as prescribed and
complies with any other conditions of release. The commissioner
shall immediately file the report in the Superior Court for the
county in which the person is hospitalized. The court shall
review each report and, if it is made to appear by the report
that any person may be ready for release or discharge, the court
shall set a date for and hold a hearing on the issue of the
person's readiness for release or discharge. The court shall
give notice of the hearing and mail a copy of the report to the
Attorney General, offices of the district attorney that
prosecuted the criminal charges for which the person was
acquitted by reason of insanity and the offices of the district
attorneys in whose district the release petition was filed or in
whose district release may occur. At the hearing, the court
shall receive the testimony of at least one psychiatrist who has
treated the person and a member of the State Forensic Service who
has examined the person, the testimony of any independent
psychiatrist or licensed clinical psychologist who is employed by
the prosecuter prosecutor and has examined the person and any
other relevant testimony. If, after hearing, the court finds
that the person may be released or discharged without likelihood
that the person will cause injury to that person or to others due
to mental disease or mental defect, the court shall order, as
applicable:

 
A. Release from the institution, provided that:


LD 1177 Title Page Top of Page Page 2 of 2