D.C., Matter of

• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: HANDLER
• Citation: D.C., Matter of, 679 A.2d 634, 146 N.J. 31 (N.J. 1996)
• Decision Date: 06 August 1996
• Parties: In the MATTER OF D.C.

Page 31

146 N.J. 31

679 A.2d 634

In the MATTER OF D.C.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued April 29, 1996.

Decided Aug. 6, 1996.

Jaynee LaVecchia, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause, for appellant, State of New Jersey (Deborah T. Poritz, Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney; Ms. LaVecchia, Joseph L. Yannotti and Benjamin Clarke, Assistant Attorneys General, of counsel; Mr. Clarke, Daisy B. Barreto and John K. Worthington, Deputy Attorneys General, on the briefs).

Vincent W. Basile, Hackensack, argued the cause, for respondent, D.C. (Flood & Basile, attorneys).

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

HANDLER, J.

This appeal arises from the involuntary civil commitment of D.C. After pleading guilty to sexual assault, kidnapping, and weapon possession charges, D.C. was convicted and sentenced to the Avenel Diagnostic and Treatment Center. Finding D.C. was not mentally ill under the statute authorizing involuntary commitment and not committable, the prison medical staff authorized his release.

D.C. was thereafter subjected to surveillance by local law enforcement authorities in the community. On learning of the reported results of that monitoring, the Attorney General sought and obtained court authorization to compel D.C. to submit to psychiatric evaluations to determine whether he should be required to undergo civil involuntary commitment proceedings.

Thereafter, following a hearing, the court found D.C. to be suffering from "mental illness" and "dangerousness" and ordered him temporarily confined to Bergen Pines Community Hospital to undergo psychiatric examination. Subsequent commitment proceedings resulted in the continuing involuntary commitment of D.C. to a state mental hospital.

It is not disputed that the proceeding that resulted in D.C.'s initial temporary involuntary confinement at the request of the Attorney General for purposes of being subjected to a psychiatric examination did not comply with the statutory procedural requirements governing the involuntary commitment of mentally ill persons and was not expressly authorized by any statute or rule of court.

This appeal challenges the constitutional and statutory validity of D.C.'s involuntary commitment and, particularly, the authority of the Attorney General to initiate and participate in commitment proceedings.

I

On July 12, 1980, D.C. abducted a young woman, took her to a wooded area, tied her to a tree, and gagged her. He retrieved a "torture kit," which included medical instruments, rope, and a pick ax, and proceeded to torture and rape his victim. D.C. stated that he spared the victim's life when he saw blood coming from her rectum. D.C. turned himself in to authorities and pled guilty to aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, and possession of a knife. He was sentenced to the Avenel Diagnostic and Treatment Center (ADTC or Avenel) for two concurrent twenty-year terms with a ten-year period of parole ineligibility.

At ADTC, D.C. was placed in therapy; tests indicated that he was unable to control his thoughts or behavior and had inadequate control over his impulses. Dr. Kay Jackson, a staff psychologist at Avenel, began treating D.C. in January 1992. D.C. reported to Jackson that he continued to have violent sexual fantasies and if released would commit the same kind of crime he committed in the past. He stated that he considered himself a "failed rapist because his victims are alive" and that he would "attempt to kill the next victim."

Jackson found that D.C.'s condition had remained unchanged. In April 1992 and November 1992, she asked psychiatrists at ADTC to examine D.C. for possible involuntary civil commitment. The doctors agreed with Jackson that D.C. was potentially dangerous and would commit a sexual offense again, but concluded he was not eligible for involuntary commitment because he was not "openly psychotic."

D.C. was released from Avenel on November 17, 1992, after serving twelve years. After his release, Dr. Jackson contacted law enforcement authorities of Wyckoff Township, the Bergen County community where he intended to resume residence, to warn them that in her opinion D.C. was dangerous and presented a harm to the public. Jackson also spoke with the Bergen County Prosecutor.

Shortly after his release from Avenel, D.C. voluntarily submitted to an evaluation by Dr. Joel Fetterbush, a psychiatrist for the Mid-Bergen Mental Health Center, Inc., the screening service located at Bergen Pines Hospital. He found D.C. not mentally ill.

The Wyckoff Police and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office conducted a close surveillance of D.C. They observed D.C., who knew he was under surveillance, engaging in various types of peculiar behavior. Members of the surveillance teams explained that D.C. would tell them that he was a rapist and always will be, likening his condition to that of an alcoholic; he expressed continued interest in younger girls, saying they understand him better. D.C. admitted to them that he wanted to contact the victim of the 1980 assault to "see if she [was] okay." The surveilling officers also noted that D.C. would at times shout profanities and threatening remarks. D.C. also attempted to explain his strange conduct to the officers.

The Attorney General investigated the circumstances surrounding D.C.'s release from Avenel. He concluded that ADTC's staff had applied an incorrect standard in authorizing D.C.'s release. (He apparently was also denied access to the psychiatric records of the Bergen County screening service, and therefore believed that evaluation could not be relied on.) The Attorney General obtained an order to show cause from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Bergen County, seeking a psychiatric examination of D.C. to determine whether involuntary commitment proceedings against him should be initiated. On January 8, 1993, the court ordered that the records be sealed and that the proceedings be closed.

A hearing on the order to show cause was held on January 13, 1993. The court determined that although the statute and court rules did not authorize the Attorney General's application, the Attorney General was acting in her capacity as parens patriae. Weighing all of the relevant factors, the court granted the relief sought by the Attorney General and ordered the psychiatric examinations of D.C.

The psychiatric examinations were conducted on January 21, 1993. The court thereafter held a hearing to determine whether probable cause existed to believe that D.C. was in need of involuntary commitment. The court found probable cause existed and ordered D.C. temporarily committed to Bergen Pines County Hospital pending a plenary commitment hearing. That hearing was conducted on February 8, 1993, in which four physicians who had conducted the evaluations of D.C. testified. On February 19, 1993, the trial court found that D.C. was in need of involuntary commitment. D.C. was thereafter transferred to the Forensic Hospital in Trenton.

In June 1993, D.C.'s commitment was reviewed. The court, on July 1, 1993, ordered his continued confinement, concluding that D.C. was mentally ill and dangerous. A second review hearing was conducted in the winter of 1994. The trial court, in March 1994, determined that D.C.'s commitment should be continued.

D.C. appealed the February 1993 commitment decision and the July 1993 decision for continued commitment. D.C. filed a second appeal of the March 1994 commitment decision.

A divided Appellate Division reversed the decision of the trial court that ordered D.C.'s initial temporary involuntary commitment. 281 N.J.Super. 102, 656 A.2d 861 (App.Div.1995). It determined that D.C.'s initial confinement based on the Attorney General's request for a psychiatric examination was not authorized by statute or under the State's inherent parens patriae powers, and that D.C.'s subsequent commitments did not conform to the procedural requirements of the civil commitment statute. Id. at 120, 656 A.2d 861. The court further concluded that because the physicians at the Bergen County screening facility had, prior to the Attorney General's initial application, determined that D.C. failed to fall within the definition of mental illness applicable at the time and was not committable, the trial court should have ordered D.C.'s release. 281 N.J.Super. at 121, 656 A.2d 861.

Due to the dissent in the Appellate Division, this appeal is before us as of right. R. 2:2-1(a)(2).

II

D.C. challenges the authority of the Attorney General to initiate proceedings for his temporary involuntary commitment. That challenge requires an examination of the comprehensive statutory and the regulatory standards that govern involuntary commitments.

A.

In 1987, the Legislature passed a comprehensive civil commitment statute. L. 1987, c. 116 §§ 1-33 (codified at N.J.S.A. 30:4-27.1 to -27.23). Central to the commitment statute is the Legislature's express directive that each county or designated mental health service area develop a screening service or short term care facility to meet the needs for evaluation and treatment of mentally ill persons. N.J.S.A. 30:4-27.1d. The statute carefully prescribed the procedures for involuntary civil commitment. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 30:4-27.10:

a. A short term care or psychiatric facility or a special psychiatric hospital shall initiate court proceedings for involuntary commitment by submitting to the court a clinical certificate completed by a psychiatrist on the patient's treatment team and the screening certificate which authorized admission of the patient to the facility; provided however, that both certificates shall not be signed by the same psychiatrist unless the psychiatrist has made a reasonable but unsuccessful attempt to have another psychiatrist conduct the evaluation and execute the certificate.

b. Court proceedings for the involuntary commitment of any person not referred by a screening service may be initiated by the...