Osborn v. Psychiatric Security Review Board

934 P.2d 391, 325 Or. 135, 1997 Ore. LEXIS 19
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 27, 1997
DocketPSRB 89-1033; CA A85362; SC S42976
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 934 P.2d 391 (Osborn v. Psychiatric Security Review Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Osborn v. Psychiatric Security Review Board, 934 P.2d 391, 325 Or. 135, 1997 Ore. LEXIS 19 (Or. 1997).

Opinion

*137 GRABER, J.

A trial court placed petitioner under the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB) in 1989. After a hearing in June 1994, the PSRB denied petitioner’s request for discharge and ordered his continued commitment. The PSRB concluded that petitioner continued to suffer from a mental disease or defect, that he continued to present a substantial danger to others, and that the PSRB therefore retained jurisdiction over him. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Osborn v. PSRB, 135 Or App 94, 96, 898 P2d 789 (1995). We reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals, vacate the PSRB’s order, and remand the case to the PSRB for reconsideration.

On July 10, 1989, after a trial based on stipulated facts, petitioner was found guilty except for insanity, ORS 161.295, 1 of first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse of a 10-year-old boy. The trial court placed petitioner under the jurisdiction of the PSRB and committed him to Oregon State Hospital (OSH) for a period not to exceed 25 years.

In reaching its decision, the trial court expressly considered a report by a medical doctor who had evaluated petitioner on June 24, 1989, and had diagnosed him as suffering from an organic personality disorder and borderline intellectual functioning. That report stated:

“[Petitioner] has a[n] organic personality disorder, severe, manifest by emotional instability, outbursts of rage and aggression which are out of proportion to any stimulus, markedly inappropriate social judgment including sexual indiscretions, and paranoid and suspicious ideation toward others which is ongoing.
*138 * * * *
“This disorder is a major mental disorder based upon organic impairment and should not be confused with the functional personality disorders. It is more akin to brain damage secondary to causes such as strokes or dementia, with which it is placed in the definitions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [(DSM)] III-R.” 2

After petitioner arrived at OSH, another medical doctor, Dr. Meyer, evaluated him on July 13, 1989. Meyer’s provisional diagnosis was that petitioner suffered from organic personality syndrome, pedophilia, and borderline intellectual functioning, on Axis I; mixed personality disorder, on Axis II; and “positive PPD, by history,” 3 on Axis III. 4

Meyer and other professionals who later evaluated petitioner consistently noted that petitioner should receive sex offender treatment. However, petitioner refused to participate in such treatment and, for the most part, would not participate in any other treatment programs.

Pursuant to ORS 161.341, 5 petitioner had a hearing *139 before the PSRB on June 27, 1994, 6 at which he sought discharge from the PSRB’s jurisdiction. The burden of proof was on the state. ORS 161.341(5).

In a progress note update three days before the hearing, Meyer wrote that petitioner suffered from pedophilia, on Axis I, and borderline or low average IQ and “mixed personality disorder, primarily passive-aggressive and dependent features,” on Axis II. He listed no Axis III diagnosis.

Meyer and petitioner were the only witnesses at the hearing. Meyer testified that petitioner currently had an Axis I diagnosis of pedophilia and explained that petitioner’s initial diagnosis of organic personality disorder had been a provisional diagnosis. Meyer stated: “[I]t takes a while to evaluate somebody, especially in [petitioner’s] case * * * he’s not a particularly reliable historian and we don’t really have much [sic] information sources other than himself.” Petitioner testified that he previously was a sex offender but is not now one and that other patients made up lies about his sexually acting out on the ward because “they don’t like sex offenders.”

By order dated July 7,1994, the PSRB continued its jurisdiction over petitioner. The PSRB found as fact that:

“2. [Petitioner] is affected by a mental disease or defect as demonstrated by the underlying facts shown by the evidence including the expert testimony of John Meyer, M.D., at the hearing to the effect that [petitioner] suffers from a diagnosis of pedophilia as well as borderline or low average IQ. This finding is further supported by the information contained in [particular exhibits].
* *
“4. The State sustained its burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that [petitioner] continues to be affected by a mental disease or defect and continues to be a *140 substantial danger to others and that he should not be discharged from the jurisdiction of the [PSRB]

The PSRB concluded as a matter of law that:

“1. [Petitioner], being affected by a mental disease or defect and presenting a substantial danger to others, is under the jurisdiction of the [PSRB]

The Court of Appeals affirmed, and we allowed petitioner’s petition for review.

PSRB’S CONTINUING JURISDICTION WHEN A DIAGNOSIS CHANGES

In its order denying petitioner’s release, the PSRB relied on ORS 161.346(l)(c) for its continued jurisdiction. ORS 161.346(1) provides:

“The board shall conduct hearings upon any application for discharge, conditional release, commitment or modification filed pursuant to ORS 161.336, 161.341 or 161.351 and as otherwise required by ORS 161.336 to 161.351 and shall make findings on the issues before it which may include:
“(a) If the board finds that the person is no longer affected by mental disease or defect, or, if so affected, no longer presents a substantial danger to others, the board shall order the person discharged from commitment or from conditional release.
“(b) If the board finds that the person is still affected by a mental disease or defect

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Bluebook (online)
934 P.2d 391, 325 Or. 135, 1997 Ore. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/osborn-v-psychiatric-security-review-board-or-1997.