Beiswenger v. Psychiatric Security Review Board

84 P.3d 180, 192 Or. App. 38, 2004 Ore. App. LEXIS 103
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedFebruary 4, 2004
Docket88-1003; A118136
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 84 P.3d 180 (Beiswenger v. Psychiatric Security Review Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beiswenger v. Psychiatric Security Review Board, 84 P.3d 180, 192 Or. App. 38, 2004 Ore. App. LEXIS 103 (Or. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

*40 LANDAU, P. J.

Petitioner seeks judicial review of an order of the Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB or the board) denying his request for conditional release. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. STATUTORY BACKGROUND

A brief review of the relevant statutes and rules will aid in understanding the facts and arguments in proper context. ORS 161.295 provides:

“(1) A person is guilty except for insanity if, as a result of mental disease or defect at the time of engaging in criminal conduct, the person lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of the conduct or to conform the conduct to the requirements of law.
“(2) * * * [T]he terms ‘mental disease or defect’ do not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct, nor do they include any abnormality constituting solely a personality disorder.”

When a trial court enters a judgment of guilty except for insanity, the court may then order that the defendant be placed in the jurisdiction of PSRB for care and treatment, provided that the court finds, among other things, that the defendant “is affected by mental disease or defect and presents a substantial danger to others requiring commitment to a state mental hospital.” ORS 161.327(1).

Pursuant to ORS 161.341(4), a person committed to a state mental hospital may petition for discharge from PSRB’s jurisdiction or for conditional release:

“Any person who has been committed to a state hospital designated by the Department of Human Services for custody, care and treatment or another person acting on the person’s behalf may apply to the board for an order of discharge or conditional release upon the grounds:
“(a) That the person is no longer affected by mental disease or defect;
“(b) If so affected, that the person no longer presents a substantial danger to others; or
*41 “(c) That the person continues to be affected by a mental disease or defect and would continue to be a danger to others without treatment, but that the person can be adequately controlled and given proper care and treatment if placed on conditional release.”

Obviously, a determinative issue often is whether the petitioner is affected by a “mental disease or defect.” The statutes do not define the term other than to specify what is not included, that is, “an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct, nor do they include any abnormality constituting solely a personality disorder.” ORS 161.295(2). PSRB has promulgated administrative rules that define the terms “mental disease” and “mental defect” as follows:

“(4) ‘Mental disease.’ Mental disease is defined as any diagnosis of mental disorder which is a significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that is associated with distress or disability causing symptoms or impairment in at least one important area of an individual’s functioning and is defined in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) of the American Psychiatric Association.
“(5) ‘Mental defect.’ Mental defect is defined as mental retardation, brain damage or other biological dysfunction that is associated with distress or disability causing symptoms or impairment in at least one important area of an individual’s functioning and is defined in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) of the American Psychiatric Association.”

OAR 859-010-0005(4), (5).

The DSM is a standard reference manual published by the American Psychiatric Association. The manual categorizes mental disorders on a multiaxial system; Axis I consists of clinical disorders, Axis II of personality disorders and mental retardation, Axis III of general medical conditions, Axis IV of psychosocial and environmental problems, and Axis V of the global assessment of functioning.

Since the publication of the first edition in 1952, the manual has been substantially revised over the years, and with those revisions have come reassessments of precisely *42 what constitutes a mental disorder. A second edition was published in 1968, followed by a third edition in 1979. Revision of the DSM-III began almost immediately after that, and a DSM-III-R was published in 1987. The current edition is the DSM-IV, published in 1994.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The relevant facts are not disputed. In 1988, petitioner was found guilty except for insanity, ORS 161.295, of kidnapping in the second degree, ORS 163.225, menacing, ORS 163.190, and unlawful use of a weapon, ORS 166.220. Petitioner was diagnosed at that time as suffering from “incipient paranoid schizophrenia” and “chronic residual schizophrenia.” The trial court ordered that petitioner be placed under the jurisdiction of PSRB for a maximum period of 16 years and that he be conditionally released. ORS 161.327(2)(b).

In September 1989, PSRB revoked petitioner’s conditional release. At the time of petitioner’s admission to the state hospital, his diagnosis under the pertinent DSM was that he suffered from an Axis I disorder, chronic paranoid schizophrenia. In May 1991, a psychologist determined that petitioner “fits the profile of a character disordered person who has developed a very serious paraphili[a]c coercive disorder.” In 1992, a psychiatrist diagnosed petitioner as suffering from paraphilia not otherwise specified, psychoactive substance abuse, and schizoid personality disorder.

In June 1996, a psychologist diagnosed petitioner as suffering from schizophrenia, paranoid type, in remission. In September 1996, a psychiatrist determined that petitioner was suffering from the Axis I diagnoses of psychoactive substance abuse, alcohol abuse, and cannabis abuse, and the Axis II diagnosis of schizoid personality disorder. At a hearing in October 1996, petitioner stipulated that he was affected by a mental disease or defect; his commitment to the state hospital was continued pending availability of a suitable plan for conditional release.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
84 P.3d 180, 192 Or. App. 38, 2004 Ore. App. LEXIS 103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beiswenger-v-psychiatric-security-review-board-orctapp-2004.