Portage County v. D. P. W. O.

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedMarch 7, 2024
Docket2023AP001975
StatusUnpublished

This text of Portage County v. D. P. W. O. (Portage County v. D. P. W. O.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Portage County v. D. P. W. O., (Wis. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. March 7, 2024 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Samuel A. Christensen petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2023AP1975 Cir. Ct. No. 2022ME98

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT IV

IN THE MATTER OF THE CONDITION OF D.P.W.O.:

PORTAGE COUNTY,

PETITIONER-RESPONDENT,

V.

D.P.W.O.,

RESPONDENT-APPELLANT.

APPEAL from orders of the circuit court for Portage County: LOUIS J. MOLEPSKE, JR., Judge. Affirmed.

¶1 NASHOLD, J.1 D.P.W.O. appeals an order extending his involuntary commitment under WIS. STAT. ch. 51 and an associated order making

1 This appeal is decided by one judge pursuant to WIS. STAT. § 752.31(2)(d) (2021-22). All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2021-22 version. No. 2023AP1975

him subject to involuntary medication and treatment. D.P.W.O. argues that these orders must be reversed because the circuit court committed plain error by relying on unobjected-to hearsay in determining that D.P.W.O. was dangerous. For the reasons below, I reject D.P.W.O.’s argument and affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶2 It is undisputed for purposes of this appeal that D.P.W.O. is mentally ill, specifically, that he has a schizoaffective disorder, among other disorders. In September 2022, the County commenced involuntary commitment proceedings under WIS. STAT. ch. 51 based in part on allegations that D.P.W.O. caused fire hazards by leaving lit cigarettes around his home, repeatedly left his home “in his underwear and walk[ed] barefoot in cold weather” and talked about “killing people.” D.P.W.O. stipulated to the initial six-month commitment and to an involuntary medication and treatment order, and he was ultimately placed in an outpatient facility.

¶3 In March 2023, the County petitioned to extend D.P.W.O.’s commitment for an additional year. To prevail in a WIS. STAT. ch. 51 recommitment2 proceeding, a county must prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the subject individual is: (1) mentally ill; (2) a proper subject for treatment; and (3) dangerous under one of five statutory dangerousness standards set forth in WIS. STAT. § 51.20(1)(a)2.a.-e. Portage Cnty. v. J.W.K., 2019 WI 54, ¶18, 386 Wis. 2d 672, 927 N.W.2d 509; § 51.20(1)(a), (13)(e).

2 WISCONSIN STAT. § 51.20, as well as courts discussing that statute, use the terms “recommitment” and “extension of a commitment” interchangeably. See Portage Cnty. v. J.W.K., 2019 WI 54, ¶18, 386 Wis. 2d 672, 927 N.W.2d 509.

2 No. 2023AP1975

¶4 At the recommitment hearing, the County introduced the testimony of psychiatrist Dr. Bababo Opaneye. The County also moved Opaneye’s examiner’s report into evidence.

¶5 Opaneye testified to the following. Opaneye personally examined D.P.W.O. and reviewed his treatment records, determining that D.P.W.O. was mentally ill and that his mental illness could be treated with medication. D.P.W.O. was initially committed after a welfare check in September 2023. At that time, D.P.W.O. had stopped taking his medication and was consistently “leaving cigarette butts on the furniture at home.” There were also multiple incidents, occurring both before and after D.P.W.O.’s initial commitment, in which D.P.W.O. “walk[ed] out in the cold inappropriately dressed.” If D.P.W.O.’s treatment were withdrawn, D.P.W.O. would “become dangerous” due to “behavior … related to his psychosis.”

¶6 Opaneye’s report recounts some of the same events as his testimony, stating that D.P.W.O. “poses danger to self by walking exposed and inappropriately dressed in very cold weather condition[s] and constituting a fire hazard by leaving burning cigarette butts all over his apartment.”

¶7 On cross-examination, Dr. Opaneye admitted that he had no personal knowledge of D.P.W.O. leaving lit cigarettes around his home or walking out into cold weather inappropriately dressed, and that instead, his knowledge of these incidents came from his review of treatment records. D.P.W.O.’s trial counsel did not object to the admission of Opaneye’s testimony, or to the admission of Opaneye’s report.

¶8 The circuit court granted the County’s recommitment petition. The court determined that “if treatment were withdrawn, [D.P.W.O.] would be [a]

3 No. 2023AP1975

proper subject for commitment again, thus he’s considered dangerous under the statute.” The court went on to make an “additional finding” that D.P.W.O. is dangerous “to himself” based on the evidence that D.P.W.O. “went out into the cold without proper clothing” and caused a fire hazard by leaving “lit cigarettes around his home.”

¶9 The court issued an order extending D.P.W.O.’s commitment for twelve months, ending on March 10, 2023, as well as an order for involuntary medication and treatment.

DISCUSSION

¶10 To prevail in a WIS. STAT. ch. 51 recommitment proceeding, a county must prove, among other things, that the subject individual is dangerous under one of the five statutory standards set forth in WIS. STAT. § 51.20(1)(a)2.a.-e. J.W.K., 386 Wis. 2d 672, ¶18; § 51.20(1)(a). The pertinent standard here is the first, § 51.20(1)(a)2.a., which requires the county to show that the individual evidences a “substantial probability of physical harm to himself or herself, as manifested by evidence of recent threats of or attempts at suicide or serious bodily harm.”

¶11 In an initial commitment proceeding, the county must prove dangerousness by reference to “recent acts or omissions.” J.W.K., 386 Wis. 2d 672, ¶17; see also WIS. STAT. § 51.20(1)(a)2. In recommitment proceedings, however, the county need not identify recent acts or omissions; instead, it may rely on the “alternative evidentiary path” of § 51.20(1)(am). J.W.K., 386 Wis. 2d 672, ¶19. Under § 51.20(1)(am), the county may satisfy its burden “by a showing that there is a substantial likelihood, based on the subject individual’s treatment record, that the individual would be a proper subject for commitment if treatment were

4 No. 2023AP1975

withdrawn.” This provision “recognizes that an individual receiving treatment may not have exhibited any recent overt acts or omissions demonstrating dangerousness because the treatment ameliorated such behavior, but if treatment were withdrawn, there may be a substantial likelihood such behavior would recur.” J.W.K., 386 Wis. 2d 672, ¶19. Nevertheless, § 51.20(1)(am) “mandates that circuit courts ground their [dangerousness] conclusions” in one of the five statutory standards set forth in § 51.20(1)(a)2.a.-e. Langlade Cnty. v. D.J.W., 2020 WI 41, ¶41, 391 Wis. 2d 231, 942 N.W.2d 277.

¶12 D.P.W.O.’s sole argument on appeal is that the circuit court erred by relying on hearsay evidence to conclude that D.P.W.O. was dangerous. Before addressing this argument, I pause to address a separate issue implicated in the parties’ briefing pertaining to the applicable statutory dangerousness standard.

I. Statutory Dangerousness Standards

¶13 The County argues that, to show dangerousness in a recommitment proceeding, it need only satisfy “the alternative recommitment standard for dangerousness in WIS. STAT. § 51.20(1)(am),” rather than one of the five statutory standards set forth in § 51.20(1)(a)2.a.-e. Essentially, the County contends that § 51.20(1)(am) is a sixth dangerousness standard available in recommitments. The circuit court appears to have applied that same understanding at times, stating that D.P.W.O.

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Bluebook (online)
Portage County v. D. P. W. O., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/portage-county-v-d-p-w-o-wisctapp-2024.