John Hamilton Morris v. United States

Appellant was convicted of an attempt to rob a federally insured bank and was sentenced to a term of fifteen years under 18 U.S.C. § 4208 (a).

No hearing on competency to stand trial under 18 U.S.C. § 4244 , was requested by the United States Attorney or defense counsel and the court did not on its own motion order such a hearing.

18 U.S.C. § 4244 reads in part: “Whenever after arrest and prior to the imposition of sentence * * * the United States Attorney has reasonable cause to believe that a person charged with an offense against the United States may be presently insane or otherwise so mentally incompetent as to be unable to understand the proceedings against him or properly to assist in his own defense, he shall file a motion for a judicial determination of such mental competency of the accused * * The defense may make a similar motion or the court may make its own motion. In either of the three situations the court shall cause the accused to be examined as to his sanity and/or competence to stand trial.

Until the receipt of the pre-sentence report in this case there did not appear the “reasonable cause” to trigger the proceedings under 18 U.S.C. § 4244 . But the history…