State ex rel. White v. Todt

• Decision Date: 08 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 23271,23271
• Citation: 475 S.E.2d 426,197 W.Va. 334
• Parties: STATE of West Virginia ex rel. Michael S. WHITE, Petitioner Below, Appellant, v. Michael TODT, Administrator, William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital; Ted Johnson, Interstate Compact Administrator, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Respondents Below, Appellees.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

Page 426

475 S.E.2d 426

197 W.Va. 334

STATE of West Virginia ex rel. Michael S. WHITE, Petitioner Below, Appellant, v. Michael TODT, Administrator, William R. Sharpe, Jr Hospital; Ted Johnson, Interstate Compact Administrator, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Respondents Below, Appellees.

No. 23271.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted May 2, 1996.

Decided July 8, 1996.

Syllabus by the Court

1. "When due process applies, it must be determined what process is due and consideration of what procedures due process may require under a given set of circumstances must begin with a determination of the precise nature of the government function involved as well as the private interest that has been impaired by government action." Syl. pt. 2, Bone v. W. Va. Dept. of Corrections, 163 W.Va. 253, 255 S.E.2d 919 (1979).

2. "Applicable standards for procedural due process, outside the criminal area, may depend upon the particular circumstances of a given case. However, there are certain fundamental principles in regard to procedural due process embodied in Article III, Section 10 of the West Virginia Constitution, which are[:] First, the more valuable the right sought to be deprived, the more safeguards will be interposed. Second, due process must generally be given before the deprivation occurs unless a compelling public policy dictates otherwise. Third, a temporary deprivation of rights may not require as large a measure of procedural due process protection as a permanent deprivation." Syl. pt. 2, North v. W. Va. Bd. of Regents, 160 W.Va. 248, 233 S.E.2d 411 (1977).

3. When a dangerous or potentially dangerous patient who has escaped from a mental health facility in another state is being detained in this State pursuant to article V of the Interstate Compact on Mental Health found in W. Va.Code, 27-14-1 [1957], the due process clause found in article III, § 10 of the Constitution of West Virginia requires, at a minimum, that before this State returns the dangerous or potentially dangerous patient to the state from where he or she has escaped, the dangerous or potentially dangerous patient be informed of the reason he or she is being detained, the dangerous or potentially dangerous patient be afforded a hearing to determine identification and the dangerous or potentially dangerous patient be afforded the opportunity to have the representation of counsel in the event he or she decides to challenge the identification.

4. The due process clause found in article III, § 10 of the Constitution of West Virginia requires that laws provide explicit standards for those who apply them so as to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement of the laws.

5. " 'As a general rule the Legislature, in delegating discretionary power to an administrative agency, such as a board or a commission, must prescribe adequate standards expressed in the statute or inherent in its subject matter and such standards must be sufficient to guide such agency in the exercise of the power conferred upon it.' Syl. pt. 3, Quesenberry v. Estep, 142 W.Va. 426, 95 S.E.2d 832 (1956)." Syl. pt. 3, State ex rel. Mountaineer Park v. Polan, 190 W.Va. 276, 438 S.E.2d 308 (1993).

6. " 'The delegation by the legislature of broad discretionary powers to an administrative body, accompanied by fitting standards for their exercise, is not of itself unconstitutional.' Point 8 Syllabus, Chapman v. Huntington, West Virginia, Housing Authority, 121 W.Va. 319 [, 3 S.E.2d 502 (1939) ]." Syl. pt. 5, State ex rel. W. Va. Hous. Dev. Fund v. Copenhaver, 153 W.Va. 636, 171 S.E.2d 545 (1969).

W.T. Weber, III, Weber & Weber, Weston, for Appellant.

Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Attorney General, Barbara L. Baxter, Assistant Attorney General, Charleston, for Appellees.

McHUGH, Chief Justice:

The appellant, Michael S. White, appeals the October 16, 1995 order of the Circuit Court of Lewis County which denied him habeas corpus relief. The appellant, who, it is asserted, left a Lincoln, Nebraska psychiatric facility without permission while under involuntary commitment, maintains that he has been illegally detained at the William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital, a state mental health facility in Lewis County. More specifically, the appellant challenges the procedure used to return an escaped dangerous or potentially dangerous patient set forth in the Interstate Compact on Mental Health found in W. Va.Code, 27-14-1, et seq. The appellees are Michael Todt, the Administrator of the William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital and Ted Johnson, the Interstate Compact Administrator of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (hereinafter the "WVDHHR"). For reasons explained below, we affirm the circuit court's order.

I.

According to the appellees, the appellant was sentenced to six to eight years in the Nebraska State Penitentiary by a Nebraska state court for first degree sexual assault of a child. Evidently, a Nebraska state court found the appellant to be a mentally disordered sex offender and, thus, sent him to the Lincoln Regional Center, a mental health facility, for one year and, thereafter, to the penitentiary for three and one-half years.

Upon being released from prison in June of 1994, the appellant was committed under a Nebraska civil commitment order to the Lincoln Regional Center. On September 19, 1995, the appellees allege that the appellant left the Lincoln Regional Center without permission or authority while under involuntary civil commitment. Soon thereafter, the Nebraska officials contacted the Interstate Compact Administrator (hereinafter "Administrator") in West Virginia, the person appointed to act as the general coordinator of activities under the Interstate Compact on Mental Health in West Virginia. ¹ The Administrator was informed that Nebraska officials had obtained an arrest warrant for the appellant's return to the Lincoln Regional Center. The Administrator was further informed that the appellant may have sought refuge with his parents who lived in Roane County, West Virginia.

In response to the information provided by the Nebraska officials, the Administrator issued an order on September 29, 1995, authorizing the police to apprehend the appellant and take him to the William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital in West Virginia until arrangements could be made to return him to Nebraska. ² The appellant was apprehended and taken to the William Sharpe, Jr. Hospital on or about September 29, 1995.

Thereafter, without holding a hearing, the Administrator made arrangements with Nebraska officials to return the appellant to Nebraska. In response, the appellant filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court of Lewis County. The circuit court appointed counsel to represent the appellant on October 5, 1995, and on October 9, 1995, issued a rule to show cause in order to determine whether the appellant should be detained and returned to Nebraska.

After a hearing was held, the circuit court denied the appellant's request for habeas corpus relief in an order dated October 16, 1995. The circuit court concluded in that order that the appellant was the "same Michael S. White, who was committed to the Lincoln Regional Center and escaped from that facility." Additionally, the circuit court found, inter alia, that the states of Nebraska and West Virginia followed the proper procedures for returning the appellant to the custody of the Nebraska officials. Thus, the circuit court ordered that the appellant continue to be detained at the William Sharpe, Jr. Hospital until the "demanding agent from the State of Nebraska appears to take custody of" the appellant.

II. Introduction

The appellant raises numerous assignments of error, all of which relate to the procedure which should be utilized when returning a dangerous or potentially dangerous patient who has escaped from another state's mental health facility. At issue is the Interstate Compact on Mental Health found in W. Va.Code, 27-14-1, et seq. ³ The Interstate Compact on Mental Health has been adopted by approximately 45 states for the purpose of providing the best treatment for the mentally ill while protecting society through cooperative action between those states that have adopted the compact. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law § 67.07 at historical and statutory notes, complementary legislation (McKinney 1996) (lists the states that have adopted the compact). The purpose of Interstate Compact on Mental Health is more explicitly enunciated in article I of W. Va.Code, 27-14-1 [1957]:

The party states find that the proper and expeditious treatment of the mentally ill and mentally deficient can be facilitated by cooperative action, to the benefit of the patients, their families, and society as a whole. Further, the party states find that the necessity of and desirability for furnishing such care and treatment bears no primary relation to the residence or citizenship of the patient but that, on the contrary, the controlling factors of community safety and humanitarianism require that facilities and services be made available for all who are in need of them. Consequently, it is the purpose of this compact and of the party states to provide the necessary legal basis for the institutionalization or other appropriate care and treatment of the mentally ill and the mentally deficient under a system that recognizes the paramount importance of patient welfare and to establish the responsibilities of the party states in terms of such welfare.

In furtherance of the above purpose, the legislature enacted article V of W. Va.Code, 27-14-1 [1957] to specifically address how party states should deal with escaped dangerous or potentially dangerous patients:

Whenever a dangerous or potentially dangerous patient escapes from an institution in any party state, that state shall promptly notify all appropriate authorities within and without the jurisdiction of the escape in a manner...