In re J.S.

21 Pa. D. & C.5th 540, 2011 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 352
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County
DecidedFebruary 4, 2011
Docketno. 2010-49-MH
StatusPublished

This text of 21 Pa. D. & C.5th 540 (In re J.S.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re J.S., 21 Pa. D. & C.5th 540, 2011 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 352 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2011).

Opinion

SCHMEHL, J.,

On April 6, 2010, a warrant for emergency examination and treatment was issued against J.S. The Pennsylvania State Police executed the warrant and transported J.S. to the Reading Hospital & Medical Center emergency room. After examination, J.S. was admitted to the hospital just after midnight on April 7,2010. On April 8,2010, the Honorable Mary Ann Campbell issued an order scheduling a hearing before the mental health review officer on April 9, 2010 and appointed the public defender to represent J.S.

Pursuant to the application for extended involuntary treatment, Dr. Hema Iyer indicated that J.S. was brought to the emergency room after he reportedly made comments [542]*542that he would retaliate against three co-workers by killing them. This may have been the result of delusional thinking of a persecutory nature. He has become extremely preoccupied with concerns that he is persecuted, which has adversely affected his sleep and work attendance. Dr. Iyer recommended continued in-patient hospitalization for safety while further assessment and evaluation can occur.

At the hearing on the application, the review officer determined that Dr. Iyer’s diagnosis for J.S. was psychotic disorder NOS. The testimony reiterated reports of J.S.’s expressing paranoia at work and threatening to kill certain people. There were reports that he was firing guns at imaginary intruders at his home and that he believes he is being persecuted by others who want him to kill himself. He also believed people were aiming laser beams into his home, and he has called the state police multiple times. J.S. denied thoughts of harm to himself or others and denied shooting outside. The hearing officer found that J.S. was severely mentally disabled and in need of treatment. He ordered that J.S. undergo inpatient treatment for a period of up to seven days. The review officer’s determination was not appealed by petition to the court.

On July 12,2010, J. S. filed, with the assistance of private counsel, a petition for review and expungement of mental health commitment for relief pursuant to 18 Pa.C.S.A. §6111.1 (g) and for the return of petitioner’s firearms. After a number of continuances, a hearing was held thereon on November 9, 2010. By order dated November 10, 2010, the petition was denied. Thereafter, with the assistance of a different attorney, J.S. filed a motion for reconsideration and/or re-opening of the record, which was denied, as well as an appeal to the Superior Court. The court directed J.S. [543]*543to file a statement of matters complained of on appeal, which he did timely.

The evidence presented to the court on November 9, 2010 was limited to two witnesses, J.S. and Larry A. Rotenberg, M.D., and two exhibits, the application for involuntary emergency examination and treatment and the application for extended involuntary treatment and associated orders. J.S. testified that he did not threaten any co-workers at his employment nor did he ever say he would retaliate against them. lie acknowledged making a comment that he would hire P.I.’s to catch a couple of people and have them prosecuted. He denied being under the care of a psychiatrist or psychologist and denied firing weapons at any time within the last couple of years. He then corrected himself to indicate that he had fired two primers during the month of March 2010. These firearms were seized by the state police. He denied trying to harm himself and he denied making any motions like he wanted to kill himself. He never pointed the firearms at anyone. He also testified that upon his arrival to the hospital, he was seen by a Dr. Good and then Dr. Rotenberg. He claimed it was for about a half an hour.

On cross-examination by counsel for the state police, J.S. testified that he was the victim of harassment. In January, people were firing laser pointers through his windows at night and doing “annoying stuff.” He reported the incidents to the state police and also advised that a neighbor had seen tire tracks on his property. J.S. further reported things had been moved within his home. He claimed somebody was entering his home and moving things as if somebody was trying to search the house and that there were numbers written on the insides of his windows. [544]*544He believed the activity may have been the result of his former stepson, and perhaps his ex-wife, being involved in drug trafficking. J.S. commented that it was his private investigator’s belief that they may have owed somebody money and that was why he was being harassed. J.S. had also reported to police that he had heard people on his roof but that he could never get outside in time to catch them. J.S. also denied threatening to kill himself or others, that he fired guns on his property at imaginary intruders, and that he was delusional. No other evidence was offered on behalf of J.S. and his petition.

Dr. Rotenberg testified that at the beginning of April he received a call and a visit from HR people at J.S.’s employer who were concerned about him and his behavior. They indicated that he had a number of rather peculiar beliefs and that he believed that three people wanted to kill him. They were concerned about his safety and the safety of others. Dr. Rotenberg then contacted Berks County’s mental health/mental retardation department and thereafter a warrant was issued.

After a two-and-a-half hour interview of J.S., Dr. Rotenberg believed that J.S. was dangerous, possibly to himself and to others, and so facilitated his admission to the psychiatric unit. Dr. Rotenberg testified that in petitioning for the 302 warrant he was relying on information given to him that J.S. had made threats to kill himself and to harm others, that he had fired guns on his property at imaginary intruders, and that he had not come out of his house for weeks at a time. In reviewing these allegations with J.S. during the interview at the hospital, Dr. Rotenberg believed that J.S. minimized the threats and emphasized threats and injustices to him. Dr. Rotenberg believed the [545]*545complaints were so strange and so unusual that they just were not credible. Dr. Rotenberg testified that in addition to the interview of J.S., he contacted a counselor that J.S. had been seeing. The counselor indicated she had worried about J.S. and she thought that perhaps he had paranoid schizophrenia. She was glad he was getting psychiatric attention. Dr. Rotenberg also mentioned J.S.’s belief that people were watching him in his home, that his then-wife was somehow in on the conspiracy against him, and that someone was attempting to extort $30,000.00 out of him. He believed that people at his place of employment were involved, including a friend of fourteen years. J.S. did acknowledge to Dr. Rotenberg that he went out with a handgun into the backyard but insists he never fired it. He reiterated the belief that people were on his roof doing strange things, but by the time he got out of the house nobody would ever be there.

Dr. Rotenberg formed a diagnosis of delusional disorder, paranoid type, with persecutory delusions and personality II disorder NOS with paranoid and obsessive features. He believed J.S.’s ideas appeared to be a poorly formed delusional system with elements of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He also had a history of psychosis and using methamphetamine. Dr.

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Related

§ 6111.1
Pennsylvania § 6111.1(g)

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Bluebook (online)
21 Pa. D. & C.5th 540, 2011 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 352, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-js-pactcomplberks-2011.