Evans v. State

130 S.W.3d 472, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 2431, 2004 WL 524900
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 18, 2004
Docket14-03-01361-CV, 14-03-00848-CV, 14-03-00849-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 130 S.W.3d 472 (Evans v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans v. State, 130 S.W.3d 472, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 2431, 2004 WL 524900 (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

KEM THOMPSON FROST, Justice.

In this consolidated case, we address an issue of apparent first impression-whether section 574.037 of the Texas Health and Safety Code applies to a proceeding under article 46.03, section 4(d)(5) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. We hold that it does and that, under section 574.037 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, the trial court lacked authority to designate appellants, out-of-region parties, to be responsible for rendering outpatient mental health services to Nathan Dale Campbell. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s June 30, 2003 commitment order, remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion, and conditionally grant mandamus relief vacating the trial court’s judgment holding the out-of-region provider in contempt of court for failure to comply with the trial court’s order compelling provision of these outpatient mental health services.

I. Factual and PRocedural Background

In 1996, Nathan Dale Campbell was charged by indictment with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault after he assaulted his girlfriend and attempted to remove her eyeballs from their sockets. After a bench trial in 1997, the trial court found him not guilty by reason of insanity. Campbell was then automatically committed to Vernon State Hospital’s maximum security facility. Campbell v. State, 85 S.W.3d 176, 178 (Tex.2002). Campbell was later transferred to Rusk State Hospital. Id. In May of 2000, the superintendent of Rusk State Hospital submitted a report to the trial court stating that, according to Campbell’s attending psychiatrist, continued inpatient treatment of Campbell was no longer necessary. Campbell v. State, 68 S.W.3d 747, 751 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2001), aff'd, 85 S.W.3d 176 (Tex.2002). The hospital superintendent recommended that the trial court order Campbell to participate in outpatient mental health services rather than inpatient services. Id. at 751-52. The trial court ordered two psychiatrists to conduct psychiatric evaluations of Campbell, and these physicians disagreed as to whether Campbell should continue with inpatient treatment. Id. at 752,

The trial court ordered the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County (“Harris County MHMRA”) to make a recommendation for Campbell’s treatment. Id. In response, a physician for the Harris County MHMRA informed the court that Campbell’s transition from inpatient to outpatient care required “a highly structured program with daily monitoring” and that Harris County MHMRA was not able to provide such a program. Id. After conducting a hearing under the Mental Health Code, the trial court ordered Campbell committed to Rusk State Hospital for another year. Id. at 752, 757. Campbell was later transferred to Kerrville State Hospital. The trial court ordered Campbell committed to' extended inpatient mental services for another year in 2001, and again in 2002. Campbell v. State, 118 S.W.3d 788, 793 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2001, pet. denied); Campbell, 68 S.W.3d at 752-53.

In a letter dated April 30, 2003, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kerrville State Hospital advised the trial court that Campbell had “reached maximum benefits [sic] from his stay at Kerrville State Hospital and can continue treatment in a less *475 restrictive setting.” The Chief Executive Officer of Kerrville State Hospital and a psychiatrist there recommended that treatment be provided to Campbell on a supervised outpatient basis, provided he participates in a regimen of medical, psychiatric, or psychological care and treatment. The Chief Executive Officer of Kerrville State Hospital filed a certificate with the clerk of the trial court. After receiving this certificate and before the expiration of the previous commitment order, the trial court held a hearing. This hearing was conducted on May 27, 2003, without any notice to appellant and petitioner Leon Evans, Executive Director of the Center for Health Care Services (hereinafter “Evans”) or to appellant Bexar County Board of Trastees for Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services d/b/a the Center for Health Care Services (hereinafter the “Bexar County Center”). At this hearing, the trial court determined that Campbell should be directed to participate in outpatient mental health services and signed an order to this effect. In this May 27, 2003 order, the trial court designated “Sherry Bailey, Bexar County Mental Health Services Program Manager” as the 'person responsible for providing the outpatient services described in the order. In the same order, the trial court also ordered Campbell to report in person to the trial court not less than once per month beginning June 30, 2003.

The Bexar County Center filed a motion for reconsideration of the May 27, 2003 order in the trial court asserting, among other things, the following:

• The Bexar County Center currently has a waiting list for its priority population patients.
• Ordering Campbell to receive extended mental health services in Bexar County, Texas will deny Campbell the necessary care and treatment.
• The Bexar County Center was not advised of the May 27, 2003 hearing and was not given an opportunity to advise the trial court that the Bexar County Center lacked the resources to accept Campbell for extended mental health services.
• Section 574.037(a) of the Texas Health and Safety Code applies and requires that the person designated under the circumstances of this case be the facilities administrator of a department facility or the facility administrator of a community center that provides mental health services in the region in which the committing court is located.
• Although Sherry Bailey is an employee of the Bexar County Center, she is not the facility administrator of the Bexar County Center; rather, Evans is the facility administrator of the Bexar County Center.
• The Bexar County Center does not provide mental health services in the region in which the trial court is located — Harris County; therefore, the trial court’s May 27, 2003 order violates section 574.037(a) of the Texas Health and Safety Code.
• The Bexar County Center first became aware that the May 27, 2003 order had been signed when it was given a copy of the order on June 18, 2003, by an advocacy group.

The Bexar County Center also filed a memorandum of law in support of its motion for reconsideration, in which it requested that the trial court amend its May 27, 2003 order so that Bailey and the Bex-ar County Center would no longer be responsible for providing outpatient mental health services to Campbell.

On June 30, 2003, the trial court conducted a hearing on the Bexar County Center’s motion for reconsideration, in which attorneys for the Bexar County

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Bluebook (online)
130 S.W.3d 472, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 2431, 2004 WL 524900, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-state-texapp-2004.