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The prosecuting attorney is one of the many persons allowed to
bring an action to have a mentally ill person involuntarily committed to a
mental hospital for treatment. Below is an overview of the various different
elements that make up a standard commitment proceeding.
Initiation of proceeding
The Bannock County Prosecutor's Office will only file such
actions when the person is indigent and/or there are no responsible family
members or guardians available to bring such an action.
These actions are nearly always brought to the attention of the
prosecutor's office filed because a law enforcement officer has taken a person
believed to be mentally ill into protective custody. In order to do so, the
officer must have probable cause that the person is gravely disabled due to a
mental illness or the person's continued liberty poses an imminent danger to
that person or others. Once taken into custody, the patient must be presented to
a duly authorized court within twenty-four (24) hours from the time the
individual was placed in custody.
Initial Examination and Filing of Petition
Immediately after being placed in protective custody, the judge
finds that the individual to be gravely disabled due to mental illness or
imminently dangerous, the judge is required to issue a temporary custody order
requiring the person to be held in a facility and requiring an examination of
the person by a designated examiner within twenty four hours of the entry of the
order. The examiner is required to submit their findings to the judge within
twenty-four (24) hours. If the examiner finds the person is mentally ill, and
either is likely to injure themselves or others or is gravely disabled due to
mental illness, the prosecuting attorney is required to file, within twenty-four
(24) hours a petition with the court requesting the patient's detention pending
commitment proceedings. Upon receipt of the petition, the court must set a
hearing to be held within five (5) days.
Appointment of an Attorney
The proposed patient will have an attorney appointed, at county
expense, to represent them, unless other arrangements are made to have counsel
represent them.
Appointment of Second Designated Examiner
Within forty-eight (48) hours of the filing of a petition, the
judge will appoint a second designated examiner to make a personal examination
of the individual. The examiner must file their report with the court within
seventy-two (72) hours. If the designated examiner finds the person is mentally
ill, and either is likely to injure themselves or others or is gravely disabled
due to mental illness, the judge will enter an order authorize the individual to
be taken to a facility in the community in which the proposed patient is
residing or to the nearest facility to await an adjudicatory hearing.
Adjudicatory Hearing
The judge must set an adjudicatory hearing within seven (7)
days of the receipt of the second designated examiners report. This can be
extended to fourteen (14) days upon request of the patient and the patient's
attorney.
The adjudicatory hearing is trial where the issues are decided
by the presiding judge. The judge can commit the person to the custody of the
Department of Health and Welfare if the judge finds by clear and convincing
evidence that the individual is both mentally ill and is likely to injure
themselves or others or is gravely due to the mental illness.
Term of Custody
The judge will designate the maximum amount of time, up to one
year, that the individual may be committed to the custody of the Department of
Health and Welfare. If the patient is well enough to be discharged from custody,
the order may be modified to reflect this fact. In other cases, the prosecution
may be required to ask the court for an additional hearing at a later date to
request that the judge enter a new order for purposes of extending the
commitment.
Review by the Department
The Department is required to conduct an examination at least at
the end of the first ninety (90) days and every one hundred twenty (120) days
thereafter. A report of each of these reviews is required to be forwarded to the
presiding judge, the prosecutor, and the patient's attorney.
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