Facts
On 28 March 1980, the 2nd Criminal Chamber of the Zurich Cantonal Court convicted [K.] for repeated theft, property damage, and trespassing. The court also decided to revoke the suspension of the 12-month prison sentence imposed on [K.] in 1977. [K.] filed a nullity appeal with the Federal Court, requesting the annulment of the judgment and the reopening of the procedure to obtain a new psychiatric expertise report.
The facts of the case are as follows: [K.] was convicted of repeated theft, property damage, and trespassing. During the procedure, a psychiatric expertise report was established in 1977, which concluded that [K.] suffered from mild debility and psychic infantilism. The court considered that this report was still valid and rejected the request for a new expertise.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the question of whether the 1977 psychiatric expertise report was still valid for assessing K.'s criminal liability for the acts committed in 1979. The court considered that grievances regarding the value of a psychiatric expertise or its interpretation by the cantonal authority must be raised in the context of a public law appeal.
The court also considered that the question of whether the author's mental state at the time of the act corresponded or not to the one at the time of a previous expertise is a question of fact that cannot be the subject of a nullity appeal before the Federal Court. However, the court admitted that if the author's mental state has changed since the previous…