State v. H. L. C. ( 2022 )

449
Submitted February 4, reversed March 23, 2022
In the Matter of H. L. C.,
a Person Alleged to be Extremely Dangerous
with Mental Illness.
STATE OF OREGON,
Respondent,
v.
H. L. C.,
Appellant.
Marion County Circuit Court
20CC06843; A176314
507 P3d 346
Appellant seeks reversal of a judgment committing him to the jurisdiction of
the Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB) for a period of time not to exceed
24 months, based on a finding that appellant is an extremely dangerous person
who suffers from a mental disorder resistant to treatment. Appellant contends,
and the state concedes, that the court erred in committing appellant under the
extremely dangerous person statute, ORS 426.701. Held: Appellant, who suf-
fers from an intellectual disability, could not be committed under ORS 426.701,
because an intellectual disability does not qualify as a mental disorder under
that statute.
Reversed.
Donald D. Abar, Judge.
Joseph R. DeBin and Multnomah Defenders, Inc., filed
the brief for appellant.
Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman,
Solicitor General, and Jona J. Maukonen, Assistant Attorney
General, filed the brief for respondent.
Before Ortega, Presiding Judge, and Powers, Judge, and
Hellman, Judge.
ORTEGA, P. J.
Reversed.
450 State v. H. L. C.
ORTEGA, P. J.
Appellant seeks reversal of a judgment committing
him to the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review
Board (PSRB) for a period of time not to exceed 24 months
and prohibiting him from purchasing or possessing a fire-
arm, illegal knife, or unauthorized weapons, based on a
finding that appellant is an extremely dangerous person
who suffers from a mental disorder resistant to treatment.
ORS 426.701 (2019), amended by Or Laws 2021, ch 482, § 1;
ORS 426.702 (2019), amended by Or Laws 2021, ch 482, § 2.
Appellant contends that he could not be committed based on
ORS 426.701, because the evidence was that he only has an
intellectual disability, which is not a qualifying mental dis-
order under the current version of the statute and adminis-
trative rules. The state concedes that, although the current
version of the statute and rules did not apply to appellant’s
commitment, an intellectual disability also is not a “men-
tal disorder” for purposes of ORS 426.701 (2019), and, as a
result, the judgment should be reversed. As explained below,
we agree with the state and reverse.
Appellant was committed on June 2, 2021. The 2021
amendment to ORS 426.701 did not take effect until July 14,
2021, Or Laws 2021, ch 482, § 3, and, as a result, the 2019
version of the statute applied to appellant’s commitment.
That statute provided, in relevant part:
“(1) For the purposes of this section and ORS 426.702:
“(a) A person is ‘extremely dangerous’ if the person:
“(A) Is at least 18 years of age;
“(B) Is exhibiting symptoms or behaviors of a men-
tal disorder substantially similar to those that preceded
the act described in subsection (3)(a)(C) of this section;
and
“(C) Because of a mental disorder:
“(i) Presents a serious danger to the safety of other
persons by reason of an extreme risk that the person will
inflict grave or potentially lethal physical injury on other
persons; and
Cite as 318 Or App 449 (2022) 451
“(ii) Unless committed, will continue to represent an
extreme risk to the safety of other persons in the foresee-
able future.
“(b) ‘Mental disorder’ does not include:
“(A) A disorder manifested solely by repeated criminal
or otherwise antisocial conduct; or
“(B) A disorder constituting solely a personality
disorder.
“(c) A mental disorder is ‘resistant to treatment’
if, after receiving care from a licensed psychiatrist and
exhausting all reasonable psychiatric treatment, or after
refusing psychiatric treatment, the person continues to be
significantly impaired in the person’s ability to make com-
petent decisions and to be aware of and control extremely
dangerous behavior.”
ORS 426.701(1) (2019).
At the time of appellant’s commitment, the applica-
ble administrative rule defined “mental disorder” for pur-
poses of ORS 426.701 and ORS 426.702 as:1
“(a) Any diagnosis of mental disorder which is a signif-
icant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that
is associated with distress or disability causing symptoms
or impairment in at least one important area of an individ-
ual’s functioning that is resistant to treatment.
“(b) The term ‘mental disorder’ does not include an
abnormality manifested solely by repeated criminal or
otherwise antisocial conduct. The term ‘mental disorder’
does not include a disorder constituting solely a personality
disorder.”
OAR 859-200-0020(9) (Feb 22, 2021).
The parties agree, and the record supports, that the
trial court based appellant’s commitment solely on evidence
and a finding that appellant suffered from an intellectual
1
The current administrative rules, for purposes of ORS 426.701 and ORS
426.702, exclude from the definition of mental disorder “a diagnosis of intellec-
tual disability or developmental disability as defined in ORS 427.005.” OAR 859-
200-0020(10), (11) (current rule defining “qualifying mental disorder” and “men-
tal illness”); see also OAR 859-200-0020(9), (10) (temporary rule effective June 21
to December 17, 2021, which included the same exclusion).
452 State v. H. L. C.
disability, as that term is defined in ORS 427.005(10)(a),2
and not based on evidence or a finding of a mental disor-
der other than appellant’s intellectual disability. The trial
court, however, concluded that appellant’s intellectual dis-
ability qualified as a mental disorder resistant to treatment
under ORS 426.701 (2019). Thus, the only issue before us is
whether an intellectual disability can qualify as a mental
disorder under that statutory scheme. To make that deter-
mination, we must discern the intent of the legislature by
examining the text of the statute in context, considering
any relevant legislative history. State v. Gaines, 346 Or 160,
171-72, 206 P3d 1042 (2009).
As set out above, neither ORS 426.701 (2019) nor
OAR 859-200-0020 (Feb 22, 2021) specifically addressed
whether a mental disorder includes an intellectual disabil-
ity. Mental disorder and mental illness are not statutorily
defined for purposes of ORS 426.701 (2019). The administra-
tive rule purports to define the term mental disorder; how-
ever, it provides primarily that a mental disorder is “[a]ny
diagnosis of mental disorder,” which is unhelpful for our pur-
poses. As a result, we start with the common understanding
of the terms mental disorder and mental illness. Those terms
refer to medical conditions “that are marked primarily by
sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, or emotions to
impair normal psychological functioning and cause marked
distress or disability and that are typically associated with a
disruption in normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, inter-
personal interactions, or daily functioning.” Mental illness,
Unabridged.Merriam-Webster.com (accessed Mar 16, 2022)
(applying same definition to “mental disorder”).
In contrast, an intellectual disability is commonly
understood to mean a “significant impairment in intellectual
ability accompanied by deficits in skills necessary for indepen-
dent daily functioning.” Intellectual disability, Unabridged.
Merriam-Webster.com (accessed Mar 16, 2022). That com-
mon understanding is reflected in the statutory definition of
2
ORS 427.005(10)(a) provides:
“ ‘Intellectual disability’ means an intelligence quotient of 70 or below as
measured by a qualified professional and existing concurrently with signifi-
cant impairment in adaptive behavior, that is manifested before the individ-
ual is 18 years of age.”
Cite as 318 Or App 449 (2022) 453
intellectual disability that applies to ORS chapter 427: “an
intelligence quotient of 70 or below as measured by a qual-
ified professional and existing concurrently with significant
impairment in adaptive behavior, that is manifested before
the individual is 18 years of age.” ORS 727.005(10)(a). Based
on those common meanings, a mental disorder refers to an
impairment of psychological function, while an intellectual
disability refers to an impairment of intellectual function,
indicating that the legislature would have understood that
an intellectual disability is not a mental disorder.
That the legislature intended to distinguish those
two types of impairments from each other is further man-
ifest in the organization of the statutes—ORS chapter 426
applies to persons with mental illness and nowhere uses the
term intellectual disability, while ORS chapter 427 applies
to persons with an intellectual or developmental disability
and nowhere uses the term mental illness or mental disor-
der. Cf. PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or 606,
611, 859 P2d 1143 (1993) (setting out contextual rules that
“use of a term in one section and not in another section of the
same statute indicates a purposeful omission, and that the
use of the same term throughout a statute indicates that the
term has the same meaning throughout the statute” (cita-
tions omitted)). Additionally, ORS 427.290 specifically pro-
vides commitment procedures for a person with an intellec-
tual disability, resulting in a commitment to the jurisdiction
of the Department of Human Services for up to a year. ORS
426.701 (2019) and ORS 426.702 (2019), however, provide for
commitment of an extremely dangerous person with a men-
tal disorder that is resistant to treatment, resulting in com-
mitment to the jurisdiction of the PSRB for up to two years.
That context of different statutes with different outcomes for
persons, depending on the person’s impairment, further sup-
ports the legislature’s intention to not treat a person with an
intellectual disability as a person with a mental disorder.
We thus conclude that an intellectual disability
does not qualify as a mental disorder under ORS 425.701
(2019), and the trial court erred in committing appellant
under that statute.
Reversed.