Jones v. United States

Jones (defendant) was charged with attempted petit larceny, an offense carrying a maximum one-year prison sentence, and was found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGBRI) under the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard after a competency evaluation concluded he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and that his crime resulted from that illness. He was committed to a mental hospital, and by the time of his February 1977 release hearing, he had already been confined longer than the maximum one-year sentence he could have received if convicted. Jones demanded unconditional release or, alternatively, recommitment only under the higher clear-and-convincing-evidence standard that governs ordinary civil commitment; the court denied his request and recommitted him, and after the D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed, Jones sought Supreme Court review.