Unruh's limbo shows how the law has changed

One thing highlighted by the reams of documents recently released in the Howard Unruh case is how he disappeared into a legal wormhole for more than two decades after he killed 13 people in East Camden in 1949.

How such a high-profile case could get lost for so long is a reflection of its time in history and how the law has been slow to evolve in dealing with the criminally insane.

After the Sept. 6, 1949, massacre, Unruh essentially was locked away in Trenton State Hospital under the signatures of four psychiatrists on a one-page, four-paragraph letter to then-Camden County Prosecutor Mitchell H. Cohen.

He was indicted, but until his death he never appeared in any court to address the charges, and they eventually were dismissed.

Unruh's case remained hidden from legal review until 1973, a year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Jackson v. Indiana that a state could not hold defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial indefinitely without recourse to civil court hearings on their continued commitment.

At the time of his arrest, officials and psychiatrists were in general agreement that the World War II combat veteran was a paranoid schizophrenic who needed to be institutionalized for the public good. His competency to stand trial was not determined by a court.

Under current law, a court can determine whether a mentally ill person charged with a crime is capable of participating in his defense and is therefore competent to stand trial.

Competency is separate from any argument that a defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity.

If a defendant is found competent, he stands trial as anyone else would, but there are possible different outcomes.

If he did not use an insanity defense, he could be acquitted and released or convicted and sentenced as anyone else could.

But if he uses an insanity defense, he can be found not guilty because of mental illness and be sent to an institution until such time as he is determined to be no longer a threat.

Some states, including Pennsylvania but not New Jersey, have recently introduced a guilty but mentally ill verdict under which a defendant is sentenced as if he were convicted outright. The court then determines whether the defendant should be institutionalized until he is ready to finish his sentence in prison.

One high-profile case now before the courts is that of Jared Lee Loughner, charged with shooting 19 people, killing six and wounding 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in Tucson, Ariz., a year ago. Judges to date have ruled that Loughner is incompetent to stand trial.

But at the time of Unruh's arrest, the law was not so clear on the issue of competency, and it was not until 1960 that the U.S. Supreme Court outlined the standards for determining a defendant's ability to stand trial.

Whether or not Unruh was ever competent to stand trial is open to debate.

At the time of the crime, one psychiatrist argued that the then-28-year-old, jobless loner was aware of his actions and capable of participating in his legal defense.

"If Psychiatrists are only to render a report of his insanity as to whether he is capable of standing trial, can understand the nature of the charge and aid counsel in his defense, then I believe Unruh can stand trial on the charge," W.H. Minford wrote.

"I feel our examinations here should not preclude his appearance in Court, no matter what we find," he said, foreshadowing the distinction between competency and the insanity defense.

Camden County Prosecutor Warren Faulk, who has reviewed the Unruh case file, doubts the killer would ever go to trial if the crime took place today and he had a competency hearing.

"I don't think you could convince a court he was competent to stand trial based on his psychiatric reports," Faulk said.

Fredric Cohen, son of the then-prosecutor, said he recalls his father saying the case was "a new kind of situation." The number of victims and the fact that the killer had not committed suicide or had not been killed by police was unprecedented at the time.

"I remember him saying they were breaking new ground and he accepted the finding that [Unruh] was insane and could not stand trial," said Cohen, also a lawyer.

The decision was announced a month after the killing.

"The state was prepared to try this case at once if Unruh could be placed on trial," Mitchell Cohen said then. "Under the laws of the state, however, an insane person cannot be tried.

"There is no alternative, therefore, but to have Unruh committed to the state mental hospital," the prosecutor said, adding he would "vigorously oppose any attempt by anyone, at any time, to have this man released into custody."

Mitchell Cohen, who went on to become a respected state and federal judge, died in 1991. Unruh died in 2009, still a patient at Trenton State Hospital.