Opinion
March 19, 1987
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Ulster County (Vogt, J.).
Petitioner seeks, by writ of habeas corpus, to be released or given "civil status in a mental institution" on the ground that he was insane at the time of his trial. In 1967, petitioner was convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His conviction was affirmed by the First Department and the Court of Appeals (People v. Dudley, 32 A.D.2d 741, affd 26 N.Y.2d 903). The issue of his sanity at the time of trial was apparently not raised on appeal. However, petitioner subsequently moved to vacate his judgment of conviction pursuant to CPL article 440 upon the same issue presented here.
Since habeas corpus is not appropriate to raise a matter which could have been raised on direct appeal of a conviction (People ex rel. Douglas v. Vincent, 50 N.Y.2d 901; People ex rel. Knox v Smith, 60 A.D.2d 789, lv denied 43 N.Y.2d 647), or reviewed pursuant to a CPL article 440 application in the court of conviction (People ex rel. Scott v. Superintendent, Great Meadow Correctional Facility, 112 A.D.2d 502, appeal dismissed 67 N.Y.2d 646; People ex rel. Thomas v. LeFevre, 102 A.D.2d 925, lv denied 63 N.Y.2d 604), Supreme Court properly denied the instant application (see, People v. Brown, 13 N.Y.2d 201, cert denied 376 U.S. 972). The judgment should therefore be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed, without costs. Mahoney, P.J., Kane, Casey, Weiss and Levine, JJ., concur.