State v. J. P. (In re J. P.)

433 P.3d 452, 295 Or. App. 228
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided December 5, 2018·No. A166438·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

SHORR, J.

*229Appellant seeks reversal of a judgment committing him for a period not to exceed 180 days, ORS 426.130(1)(a)(C), and an order prohibiting him from purchasing or possessing a firearm, ORS 426.130(1)(a)(D). Appellant challenges the trial court's conclusion that, because of a mental disease or defect, he was a danger to others. ORS 426.005 (1)(f)(A). Because the state failed to present legally sufficient evidence that appellant was a danger to others, we reverse.

Because we do not exercise our discretion to review this case de novo , ORAP 5.40(8)(c), we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court's disposition to determine whether the evidence, when so viewed, was legally sufficient to support appellant's commitment. State v. S. R. J. , 281 Or. App. 741, 743, 386 P.3d 99 (2016) ; State v. M. A. , 276 Or. App. 624, 625, 371 P.3d 495 (2016).

Appellant was civilly committed at a hearing that took place on October 31, 2017. At the time of the hearing, appellant was a 43-year-old man who had had delusional thoughts for at least five years; however, he had never had any psychiatric treatment or diagnosis before his current commitment. Before the hearing, appellant had been living in Oregon for about one month, primarily staying at a shelter, but also staying intermittently with his mother and his daughter. Before moving to Oregon, appellant had been living in California.

For about five years, appellant has harbored a delusional belief that he is being monitored by "the mafia." Appellant's delusion regarding the mafia appears to have originated with his neighbors in California, who he believed were engaged in illegal activities and were monitoring him because he had information on them. Appellant has, at various times, believed that he was being monitored through overhead electrical wires, robotic birds, his daughter's dog's collar, his cell phone, and a surgically implanted pin in his neck. Appellant volunteered that he had been arrested previously for domestic violence and for "carrying a pistol." With regard to the domestic-violence arrest, appellant's mother testified that, six or seven years before the hearing, *230appellant and his girlfriend had gotten into "a rather violent argument and it resulted in the girlfriend having a broken nose."

When appellant moved to Oregon, he believed that the mafia had followed him from California and was continuing to monitor him in Oregon. Appellant sent his mother photographs of a man at a bus stop, who he believed was a member of the mafia. He also sent his mother photos of "random cars" that he took on his trip to Oregon, for the same purpose. On his first night in Oregon, while staying with his daughter, appellant became convinced that roofers working on a house across the street were monitoring him. That night, appellant asked his daughter to put a handgun on top of the refrigerator "in case anything happened." His daughter refused, but she put an unloaded shotgun under appellant's *454bed to get him to "calm down and go to sleep."

Appellant's mother got him a new cell phone to "get rid of all of the stuff that might be in that old cell phone," because appellant believed that his phone had been hacked. Appellant then became convinced that his new cell phone was being monitored. The day before appellant was hospitalized, he asked his mother to take him to get a second new cell phone. When she refused, appellant became so agitated that he threw his cell phone against the dashboard of her car and began stomping on it.

The next day, appellant called his mother from a restaurant and said, "I'm ready to deal with this. I'm ready to get these people. Whatever means necessary, I need to do this today." He also told her, "I don't care how I have to do it. I'll kill them. I'll hang them. I'll do whatever I have to. I need to deal with this." Appellant's mother testified that "[t]he whole thing seemed to be escalating." She became so alarmed that she went to the restaurant and convinced appellant to go to Compass Behavioral Health.

At Compass, appellant was verbally disruptive and reiterated his threats against the mafia to the staff; however, he did not try to attack anyone or otherwise become physically aggressive. The Compass crisis team concluded that appellant was a danger to others and needed to be hospitalized. Appellant refused to go to the hospital voluntarily, and *231the supervisor, Perham, placed a director's hold on appellant and called law enforcement. The officers placed appellant in handcuffs and escorted him to the hospital without further incident.

Perham testified at appellant's commitment hearing. She stated that she had met with appellant and hospital staff several times over the week preceding appellant's commitment hearing. She testified that appellant had no reported incidents of making threats or becoming physically violent with any of the staff. When asked if appellant posed a danger to others, Perham testified as follows:

"If released today, I have concerns about imminent danger to members of the community. I can't identify who they might be because [appellant] has taken pictures of apparently random vehicles associated with people, someone that he saw at a bus stop, identifying those people as part of the group that's surveilling him, following him around, watching his every move. And I have grave concern for the safety of the community because of his delusions."

Perham also testified that she believed outpatient treatment would not be in the best interest of appellant or the community. This conclusion was based, in part, on a statement from appellant's mother that appellant had deceived hospital staff into thinking he had taken his medication when he had not.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State v. J. P. (In re J. P.), 433 P.3d 452, 295 Or. App. 228 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

433 P.3d 452 (State v. J. P. (In re J. P.)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. C. A. C.
545 P.3d 158 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2024)
State v. Z. W. Y. (A166276)
450 P.3d 544 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2019)