J.P. v. Dist. of Columbia

• Decision Date: 26 July 2018
• Docket Number: No. 18-CT-404,18-CT-404
• Citation: 189 A.3d 212
• Parties: J.P., Appellant, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

189 A.3d 212

J.P., Appellant,

v.DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Appellee.

No. 18-CT-404

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued May 3, 2018

Decided July 26, 2018

Jaclyn S. Frankfurt, with whom Samia Fam and Mikel-Meredith Weidman were on the brief, for appellant.

Holly M. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Karl A. Racine, Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Loren L. AliKhan, Solicitor General, and Stacy L. Anderson, Acting Deputy Solicitor General, were on the brief, for appellee.

Before Glickman, Easterly, and McLeese, Associate Judges.

McLeese, Associate Judge:

Appellant J.P. is a sixteen-year-old minor who was prosecuted as an adult for alleged traffic offenses but has been declared incompetent to stand trial. J.P. challenges the trial court's order requiring J.P. to undergo inpatient mental-health treatment during the pendency of the District of Columbia's petition to have J.P. civilly committed. J.P. argues that D.C. Code § 7-1231.14 (a) (2018 Repl.) precludes the trial court from ordering J.P. to undergo inpatient mental-health treatment absent consent from J.P.'s parent or guardian. This is an emergency appeal, and after briefing and oral argument the court issued an emergency order on May 8, 2018, affirming the ruling of the trial court that the consent requirement reflected in § 7-1231.14 (a) does not apply to criminal defendants whose inpatient mental-health treatment has been ordered pursuant to D.C. Code § 24-531.07 (a)(2) (2012 Repl.). In this opinion we explain the reasoning underlying that emergency order.

I.

The criminal traffic charges against J.P. rest on the following allegations. In February 2018, J.P., who did not have a driver's license, was driving a stolen truck more than thirty miles per hour over the speed limit. During a police chase, J.P. went through stop signs and drove the wrong way down a one-way street. J.P. eventually got out of the truck and attempted to flee on foot. When police officers caught J.P., he reached into his jacket pocket and turned toward a police officer with a loaded .38-caliber gun in his hand.

J.P. was charged in this case as an adult for alleged criminal traffic offenses, pursuant to D.C. Code § 16-2301 (3)(C) (2012 Repl.). In addition, the District commenced juvenile proceedings against J.P. for alleged weapons and stolen-property offenses arising out of the February 2018 incident. J.P. also has been the subject of other Family Division proceedings. He was adjudicated a neglected child in 2013 and committed to the care of the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA). J.P. has also been charged with delinquency offenses on several prior occasions, but those cases were dismissed because J.P. was deemed incompetent to stand trial and unlikely to attain competence. At the time of the February 2018 incident, J.P. had been missing for more than two months after he fled from a shelter house.

Based on a stipulation between the parties, the trial court in this case found that J.P. was incompetent and unlikely to attain competence. The trial court therefore ordered that J.P. receive inpatient mental-health treatment pursuant to D.C. Code § 24-531.06 (c)(4) (2012 Repl.) (if criminal defendant has been found incompetent and unlikely to attain competence, trial court may order that defendant receive inpatient mental-health treatment for up to thirty days pending filing of petition for civil commitment). Because St. Elizabeths does not have a juvenile wing and is not licensed to provide juvenile care, the District contracted with the Psychiatric Institute of Washington (PIW) to provide for J.P.'s inpatient mental-health treatment pending civil-commitment proceedings.

After the District filed a petition seeking civil commitment of J.P., the trial court ordered J.P.'s continued inpatient mental-health treatment at PIW pending the outcome of the civil-commitment proceeding, pursuant to § 24-531.07 (a)(2). The trial court stated that inpatient mental-health treatment was most appropriate for the safety of both the community and J.P.

J.P. filed an emergency motion for release, arguing that requiring him to undergo inpatient mental-health treatment was unlawful under § 7-1231.14 (a), because no parent or guardian had consented. The trial court denied the motion, holding that notwithstanding § 7-1231.14 (a), § 24-531.07 (a)(2) authorizes continued inpatient mental-health treatment of incompetent criminal defendants, including minors being prosecuted as adults, during the pendency of a civil-commitment proceeding.

II.

Generally, persons under the age of eighteen can only be charged as juveniles under the delinquency provisions of Title 16. D.C. Code §§ 16-2301 (3), (7) ; 16-2301.02 (2012 Repl.). In some circumstances, the District can move to transfer a minor to the Criminal Division of the Superior Court for prosecution as an adult. D.C. Code § 16-2307 (2012 Repl.) (permitting transfer where, inter alia, minor who is at least fifteen years old is alleged to have committed felony offense). Title 16 does not apply, however, to individuals who are sixteen or older and have been charged with enumerated serious criminal offenses. D.C. Code § 16-2301 (3)(A)-(B). Title 16 also does not apply to individuals who are sixteen or older and have been charged with traffic offenses. D.C. Code § 16-2301 (3)(C), (7). A sixteen-year-old charged with a traffic offense is therefore tried as an adult.

A criminal defendant cannot be prosecuted if incompetent to stand trial. D.C. Code § 24-531.02 (a) (2012 Repl.). Title 24 lays out procedures applicable in criminal cases where competency is at issue. D.C. Code §§ 24-531.01 to - .13 (2012 Repl.). Those procedures apply to adults, minors charged as adults, and minors whom the District has moved to transfer for prosecution as adults.

D.C. Code § 24-531.01 (3), (8). If there is a question as to a defendant's competency, the trial court may where appropriate order the defendant committed for an inpatient examination. D.C. Code § 24-531.03 (e). The trial court also may order an incompetent defendant to undergo inpatient treatment to restore competency. D.C. Code § 24-531.04 (c)(3). If the trial court determines that a defendant is incompetent and unlikely to attain competence, the court must "either order the release of the defendant or, where appropriate, enter an order for treatment ... for up to 30 days pending the filing of a petition for civil commitment." D.C. Code § 24-531.06 (c)(4). If a petition for civil commitment is filed within those thirty days, "the court may either order that treatment be continued until the entry of a final order in the civil commitment case or release the defendant from treatment." D.C. Code § 24-531.07 (a)(2).

J.P. relies on D.C. Code § 7-1231.14 (a) to contest the trial court's order for inpatient mental-health treatment. That provision is one of several provisions in the Mental Health Consumers' Rights Protection Act that address issues of consent to mental-health treatment. E.g. , D.C. Code §§ 7-1231.07, .08, .14 (2018 Repl.). Section 7-1231.14 focuses on minors, defined as persons under eighteen who are unmarried and unemancipated. D.C. Code § 7-1231.02 (18) (2018 Repl.). Specifically, § 7-1231.14 outlines certain circumstances in which minors are permitted to consent to particular types of mental-health treatment. As to inpatient mental-health treatment of minors, however, § 7-1231.14 (a) generally requires "consent of a parent or legal guardian." (For ease of reference, we hereinafter use the short-hand "parental consent.") Section 7-1231.14 (a) makes exception for (1) emergency hospitalization under D.C. Code § 21-521 et seq. (2012 Repl.); (2) civil commitment under D.C. Code § 21-545 ; and (3) inpatient treatment conducted in connection with juvenile and neglect proceedings, including for purposes of determining and restoring competency, under D.C. Code §§ 16-2315, - 2320, and - 2321. (Although § 7-1231.14 (a) refers to D.C. Code § 16-1321, the parties agree that that is a typographical error and that the intended reference is to § 16-2321.) Section 7-1231.14 (a) does not contain an exception for inpatient mental-health treatment of minors being criminally prosecuted as adults.

III.

By its terms, § 24-531.07 (a)(2) authorizes the trial court to require J.P. to undergo inpatient mental-health treatment during the pendency of the civil-commitment proceeding. On the other hand, § 7-1231.14 (a) by its terms appears to prohibit inpatient mental-health treatment for J.P. in the absence of parental consent.¹ Our task is to determine which of these seemingly conflicting provisions governs. We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. Lopez-Ramirez v. United States , 171 A.3d 169, 172 (D.C. 2017).

A.

For several reasons, we agree with the trial court that § 24-531.07 (a)(2) governs in the present case. First, § 24-531.07 (a)(2) was enacted as part of a chapter of the D.C. Code providing a general framework for criminal-competence procedures. D.C. Code §§ 24-531.01 to - .13. Those procedures are plainly intended to apply to minors who are being criminally prosecuted as adults. D.C. Code § 24-531.01 (3) (defining "defendant" to include a person being criminally prosecuted). In fact, the procedures are applicable to some minors who are charged as juveniles, if there is a pending motion to transfer them for adult prosecution. Id. (defining "defendant" to include "a respondent in a transfer proceeding").

Second, imposing a parental-consent requirement on top of the criminal-competency procedures makes little sense. The criminal-competency procedures were designed to strike a balance between "public safety and defendants' rights." D.C. Council, Report on Bill 15-967 at 11 (Nov. 17, 2004). Granting parents full veto power over the ability of a trial court to order inpatient mental-health treatment of criminal defendants presenting competency issues would disrupt that balance. That disruption would not be...