JAMES V. MACNEIL, PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, ET AL., RESPONDENTS
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The court held that the order for involuntary commitment was improper because it failed to comply with statutory and rule requirements regarding psychiatric evaluations and consideration of less restrictive alternatives.
[1] Habeas corpus is a proper remedy to challenge an illegal order of involuntary commitment.
[2] Commitment orders for individuals found incompetent to proceed must strictly comply with statutory and rule requirements regarding psychiatric reports.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMacNeil was adjudicated incompetent and committed to HRS custody, but remained in jail awaiting HRS processing. The commitment order and psychiatric r…
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W. SHARP, Judge.
MacNeil petitions this court for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus seeking his release from the custody of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. He argues that he has been improperly involuntarily committed pursuant to section 916.13, Florida Statutes (1989), after being adjudicated incompetent to proceed under Rule 3.210. We agree and quash the order placing him in the custody of HRS.
Initially, respondent HRS asserts that the remedy of habeas corpus is improper because it is premature. Although Mac-Neil was adjudicated incompetent and committed to the custody of HRS by an order rendered on July 1, 1991, at the time he filed his petition with this court on August 8, 1991, he was (and apparently still is) in the Orange County Jail, awaiting notification from HRS that it has a “completed commitment package” which HRS claims is necessary for it to “admit” him. HRS does not dispute that the commitment order challenged in this case fails to comply with the requirements of the statute and rule cited above. It argues that prohibition is the proper remedy.
Habeas corpus is the traditional remedy used to obtain a person’s release from an illegal order of involuntary commitment.1 Under the order of commitment entered by the judge in this case, MacNeil was left in the temporary custody of the Sheriff of Orange County, essentially as an agent for HRS. The sheriff is charged solely with the duty to transport MacNeil pursuant to the directions of HRS or subsequent order of the court.
In this case, the petition and exhibits establish (without dispute from respondent) that the trial court failed to comply with the requirements of rule 3.211 and section 916.13(1), Florida Statutes (1989). The rule requires that if the examining psychiatrists find a defendant is incompetent to proceed, they must include in their reports filed with the court the following:
(i) The mental illness or mental retardation causing the incompetence;
(ii) The treatment or treatments appropriate for the mental illness or mental retardation of the defendant, and an explanation of each of the possible treatment alternatives in order of choices;
(iii) The availability of acceptable treatment. If treatment is available in the community, the expert shall so state in the report;
(iv) The likelihood of the defendant attaining competence under the treatment recommended, an assessment of the probable duration of the - treatment required to restore competence, and the probability that the defendant will attain competence to proceed in the foreseeable future.
Neither psychiatrist addressed the availability of acceptable treatment, nor the likelihood of MacNeil attaining competence to proceed. Dr. Danziger’s examination also failed to report on appropriate treatments.
Section 916.13(l)(b) requires the court to consider less restrictive treatment alternatives. There is no basis in the record which could establish by clear and convincing evidence that less restrictive treatment alternatives were inappropriate. Further, the order adjudicating MacNeil incompetent to proceed and involuntarily committing him is almost a blank form which fails to check off what evidence, if any, the trial court received or considered (written reports, testimony, or both), and at what stage Mac-Neil was found incompetent to proceed (trial, pretrial, plea, probation, or community control violation, sentencing, etc.).
Accordingly, we vacate the challenged order of commitment and return MacNeil to the custody of the Orange County sheriff. We remand this cause to the trial court for such further proceedings as it may deem appropriate.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
COBB and HARRIS, JJ., concur. . See Lee v. State, 546 So. 2d 436 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989) (habeas corpus petition granted and petitioner discharged from order of commitment for involuntary treatment under the Comprehensive Alcoholism Prevention Control and Treatment Act); Thurston v. Navarro, 546 So. 2d 448 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989) (habeas corpus petition seeking release from involuntary commitment under section 916.15; petition granted and order of commitment quashed). Furthermore, “[s]tatutes which authorize the deprivation of an individual’s liberty must be strictly construed.” Lee, at 437 (examination by certified alcoholism counselor rather than physician did not meet statutory requirement). See also Thurston at 449 (trial court improperly rejected uncontra-dicted expert opinion that petitioner did not meet criteria).
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Patton v. State, 712 So. 2d 1206 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)…on this issue and would effectively be placed in permanent commitment.... Review by common law certiorari is necessary to ensure the trial court’s proper application of those constitutional mandates to an incompetent accused.” In MacNeil v. State, 586 So. 2d 98 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991), MacNeil filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus with the Fifth District Court of Appeal seeking release from the custody of HRS. MacNeil argued he had been improperly involuntarily committed pursuant to section 916.13. The di…
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Gentzen v. State, 689 So. 2d 1178 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)…we lack jurisdiction to hear this appeal does not leave appellant without a means by which to obtain review of the order in question. The means traditionally employed for such purpose has been a petition for writ of habeas corpus. MacNeil v. State, 586 So. 2d 98 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991). The district courts of appeal have jurisdiction to issue writs of habeas corpus. Art. V, § 4(b)(3), Fla. Const. However, the preferable course in most cases is to file a petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus in the circuit co…
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Jones v. Fla. Parole Comm'n, 48 So. 3d 704 (Fla. 2010)…court by whose judgment petitioner is imprisoned); Clarke v. Regier, 881 So. 2d 656, 657 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004) (involuntary hospitalization); Parsons v. Wennet, 625 So. 2d 945, 946 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (confinement for civil contempt); MacNeil v. State, 586 So. 2d 98, 99 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991) (involuntary commitment for mental illness); Lee v. State, 546 So. 2d 436, 436 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989) (involuntary commitment for treatment for alcoholism); Durant v. Boone, 509 So. 2d 1275, 1276 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987) (procedural…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- LEE v. State, 546 So. 2d 436 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989)
- Thurston v. Navarro, 546 So. 2d 448 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989)