Campbell V. State

This is an appeal from an order submitting Nathan Dale Campbell (appellant) to the care of Kerrville State Hospital for extended mental health services.*fn2 For five years, appellant has been a patient of a state mental hospital as a result of a violent crime he committed but was acquitted of by reason of insanity. This appeal raises interesting and important issues for patients like appellant who are ordered to a mental health institution after having committed a violent crime. Appellant has filed two briefs with us, both raising significant legal issues. Part of the appeal complains that he was improperly harmed because the jury heard the details of the brutal crime he committed while insane, and that those details would distract the jury from the narrow issue before them: Did his present condition warrant continued commitment? A second part of his brief complains about numerous extraneous offenses discussed in his medical history that were made known to the jury without any separate proof that they actually occurred. The other main complaint relates to the charge, and raises the equally important question whether a judge in this type of case can order a patient to an extended stay in a mental health institution without a jury finding supporting the order.