Hill v. D.D. (In re Interest of D.D.)
| Decision Date | 28 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 20180207,20180207 |
| Citation | 916 N.W.2d 765 |
| Parties | IN the INTEREST OF D.D. Steven Hill, M.D., Petitioner and Appellee v. D.D., Respondent and Appellant |
| Court | North Dakota Supreme Court |
Nancy D. Yon, Assistant State's Attorney, Grand Forks, N.D., for petitioner and appellee; submitted on brief.
Sarah S. Barron, Grand Forks, N.D., for respondent and appellant; submitted on brief.
[¶ 1] D.D. appeals a district court order requiring his involuntary hospitalization and treatment, directing law enforcement to seize D.D.'s firearms, and finding that federal and state firearm restrictions applied to him. We affirm the district court's conclusion that the state and federal firearms restrictions are not unconstitutionally vague and apply to D.D. We reverse the order to seize D.D.'s firearms because neither the state nor the district court identified legal authority for issuing a summary seizure order as part of a mental health commitment process.
[¶ 2] In April 2018, Dr. Steven Hill filed an application for evaluation and emergency admission, request for transportation for emergency detention, and petition for involuntary commitment, alleging that D.D. was mentally ill and in need of emergency treatment. D.D. was admitted to the North Dakota State Hospital. After a preliminary hearing, the district court ordered involuntary hospitalization and treatment at the State Hospital for fourteen days, and found the firearm restrictions under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(d)(4), 922(g)(4), and N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-01(1)(c) applied.
[¶ 3] During the treatment hearing, D.D. testified to owning several firearms. He stated that if he was prohibited from possessing firearms, he would sell them. During closing arguments, the petitioner requested that the district court either order D.D. to provide proof of sale of his firearms before he returned to his residence or authorize the sheriff's department to enter D.D.'s home and seize the firearms. The district court found there was clear and convincing evidence that D.D. was mentally ill, a person requiring treatment, and that no alternative treatment other than hospitalization at the State Hospital was appropriate. The court ordered treatment at the State Hospital for a period not to exceed ninety days. The district court again found that the firearm possession restrictions under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(d)(4), 922(g)(4), and N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-01(1)(c) applied, and ordered that
[¶ 4] On May 11, 2018, law enforcement seized about 100 firearms from D.D.'s residence. The State Hospital released D.D. three days later. In the notice of release, Dr. Pryatel explained that D.D. "no longer requires hospitalization." Upon petition, the district court ordered less restrictive treatment, allowing D.D. to participate in outpatient treatment.
[¶ 5] D.D. argues that the federal and state firearm possession restrictions are unconstitutionally vague.
[¶ 6] The petitioner claims that this constitutional issue is not properly before this Court because D.D. did not comply with N.D.R.App.P. 44. Rule 44 requires that a party questioning the constitutionality of a statute "in which the state or its agency, officer, or employee is not a party in an official capacity" must give written notice to the attorney general upon filing of the record or as soon as the question is raised. The petitioner, Dr. Hill, is a psychiatrist employed by the Northeast Human Service Center, one of eight regional human service centers within the North Dakota Department of Human Services. Dr. Hill was represented by the Grand Forks County State's Attorney's Office, and his participation in this matter was in his official capacity as a state employee acting on behalf of a state agency, as shown by letterhead on Dr. Hill's April 2, 2018, letter referenced in the petition. Because a state employee is a party to this suit in his official capacity, Rule 44 does not apply, and this issue is properly before this Court.
[¶ 7] No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. U.S. Const. amend. XIV ; N.D. Const. art. I, § 12.
Stemming from this guarantee [of due process] is the concept that vague statutes are void. Connally v. Gen. Constr. Co. , 269 U.S. 385, 391, 46 S.Ct. 126, 70 L.Ed. 322 (1926). "[A] statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application, violates the first essential of due process of law." Id. "Void for vagueness simply means that criminal responsibility should not attach where one could not reasonably understand that his contemplated conduct is proscribed." United States v. Nat'l Dairy Prods. Corp. , 372 U.S. 29, 32-33, 83 S.Ct. 594, 9 L.Ed.2d 561 (1963). Grayned v. City of Rockford , 408 U.S. 104, 108, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 33 L.Ed.2d 222 (1972). "[V]agueness challenges to statutes which do not involve First Amendment freedoms must be examined in the light of the facts of the case at hand." United States v. Mazurie , 419 U.S. 544, 550, 95 S.Ct. 710, 42 L.Ed.2d 706 (1975).
United States v. Washam , 312 F.3d 926, 929 (8th Cir. 2002). Under federal law, statutes must provide the person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, and provide explicit standards to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Grayned v. City of Rockford , 408 U.S. 104, 108, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 33 L.Ed.2d 222 (1972). A constitutional challenge to a federal statute is reviewed de novo. Washam , 312 F.3d at 929.
[¶ 8] Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(d)(4), it is unlawful "for any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person ... has been adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution." Section 922(g)(4) provides that it is unlawful for a person "who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution" to ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms or ammunition in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce. D.D. argues these laws are unconstitutionally vague because they do not provide adequate notice and they lend themselves to arbitrary enforcement.
[¶ 9] D.D. argues that 18 U.S.C. § 922 would not provide a reasonable person under civil commitment with adequate warning that, at the moment he was committed, he would already violate the firearm possession restrictions if he had firearms in his home. This is contrary to the plain language of the two subsections at issue. Subsection 922(d)(4) prohibits selling or disposing of firearms or ammunition to a person who has been committed to a mental institution. Thus, D.D. would not violate this subsection by keeping firearms or ammunition in his home. Subsection 922(g)(4) prohibits the possession of firearms by those who have been committed to a mental institution. A person of ordinary intelligence would readily understand that § 922(g)(4) is violated by continued possession of a firearm after one has been involuntarily committed.
[¶ 10] D.D. contends that § 922(g)(4) is vague as to what type of possession (actual or constructive) is required by the committed individual. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has defined possession under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) :
Section 922(g) proscribes possession alone, but covers possession in every form. By its terms, § 922(g) does not prohibit a felon from owning firearms. Rather, it interferes with a single incident of ownership—one of the proverbial sticks in the bundle of property rights—by preventing the felon from knowingly possessing his (or another person's) guns. But that stick is a thick one, encompassing what the criminal law recognizes as "actual" and "constructive" possession alike. Actual possession exists when a person has direct physical control over a thing. Constructive possession is established when a person, though lacking such physical custody, still has the power and intent to exercise control over the object. Section 922(g) thus prevents a felon not only from holding his firearms himself but also from maintaining control over those guns in the hands of others.
Henderson v. United States , ––– U.S. ––––, 135 S.Ct. 1780, 1784, 191 L.Ed.2d 874 (2015) (citations omitted). D.D. testified that he owned firearms and that they were stored in his home. Thus, D.D. was in constructive possession of firearms. A person of ordinary intelligence would know that his constructive possession of firearms would violate § 922(g)(4) if he had at any point been committed to a mental institution. Subsections 922(d)(4) and 922(g)(4) provided D.D. with adequate and fair warning.
[¶ 11] D.D. argues that subsections 922(d)(4) and 922(g)(4) lend themselves to arbitrary enforcement because they contain no guidelines for an officer, judge, or jury to follow. The plain language of the statute is clear. The two subsections specifically apply to anyone who has been "committed to a mental institution." What constitutes possession and whether one has been committed and whether the facility is a mental institution are objective criteria providing fair warning to those who may fall within its scope. Both 922(d)(4) and (g)(4) provide standards for an officer, judge, or jury charged with enforcing the law to follow and thus are not unconstitutionally vague.
[¶ 12] In addition to challenging the federal firearm restrictions, D.D. argues a state firearm possession restriction is similarly vague in violation of the North Dakota Constitution. Our...
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