As attorney Ted Husfeld, 69, retires from his 43-year law practice, one case stands out in his mind.

    It's the case of the State of Florida vs. Jesse Daniels, "a mentally retarded boy who stuttered," who was convicted of rape when he was 18 and assigned to an asylum for the criminally insane, Husfeld said.

    In the mid-1960's, when a program was started to provide legal services to poor people, Husfeld was asked to take a look at the Daniels case, partly because he had acquired a working knowledge of medicine.

    He and his law partner Richard Graham worked together on the "challenging" case.

    "I went to the insane asylum at Chattahoochee to see Jesse," Husfeld said.  The first thing I said I wanted to know was whether Jesse Daniels was insane.  I asked him if I had a magic wand and he could have one wish, what would it be."

    "He said, "Gosh, gosh knows, Mr. Husfeld, I want to get out of here and go home to Mama."

    "I read him stories from Aesops-Fables and asked him to give me the main idea of the story, which he did, and asked him who the president of the United States was and he knew."

    "According to the records at the asylum, he was great year after year, 17 years in a row, quietly obeying rules, wanting only to go home to his mother."

    Husfeld said he learned that there had been no direct testimony in court originally that Daniels was insane.  "The director of the state asylum stated he thought Daniels was insane because he had no insight as to the nature of his crime."

    Husfeld said he learned after some investigation that the victim, a prominent Lake County woman, first said she was raped by a black man and made no mention of her attacker stuttering.

    "The victim never made a mention of his stuttering, yet he began every sentence stuttering and using the phrase "Gosh knows."

    Husfeld eventually found himself before the state Supreme Court, asking for the case to be reheard, saying Daniels commitment was illegal and that the law didn't provide criminally accused people the same civil rights as mentally ill people."

    The testimony of three people was required for the commitment of a mentally ill person, but only a letter from the director of the asylum was required for the criminally insane," he said.

    "The Supreme Court of Florida turned us down, but we went to the Supreme Court of the United States and it agreed to hear the case."

    When the news reached Florida, Daniels was offered a hearing in circuit court in Lake County where the court would evaluate his present mental status.

    In preparation for that hearing, Husfeld had several professionals, including a police detective, a minister and two psychologists from the University of Florida interrogate Daniels.  They also arranged an FBI-administered polygraph.  They were all convinced that he was "not insane" and "not a criminal personality," Husfeld said.

    Still, the judge sent Daniels back to the asylum.  Then the case went to the District Court of Appeals.  In the appellate brief he wrote, Husfeld quoted from Job in the Holy Bible: "I cried aloud in the night and there was no justice."

    After the Appellate Judge heard Husfeld's brief, "He turned to the state prosecutor and asked, "Is what Mr. Husfeld is telling us the truth?"

    Husfeld said the prosecutor said, "Yes sir."  The judge reversed the trial court's decision and ordered the court to either turn Daniels loose or try him again.  The charges were dropped and Daniels returned home to live with his mother.

    Then Husfeld and Graham petitioned the legislature "to compensate the poor soul for his 17 years in the snake pit." The legislature passed a special act providing for the relief of Jesse Daniels.

    The case had a final twist.  During the legislative hearing to determine the compensation for Daniels, a court reporter who hadn't previously testified said she was the one who recorded the confession of the rapist all those years before when Daniels was convicted.

    But the rapist she heard testify was a black man and didn't stutter.  When Daniels, who is white, walked through the door, Husfeld said the court reporter was shocked to see that it wasn't the same man.

 

This article originally appeared in the June 22, 1995 issue of  The Volusian
and is printed with permission