No. 93-484 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 

IN THE MATTER OF THE 

MENTAL HEALTH OF D. B. 

APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Seventh Judicial District, 

In and for the County of ~ichland, 

The Honorable Kenneth R. Wilson, Judge presiding. 

COUNSEL OF RECORD: 

For Appellant: 

Lonnie J. Olson, Mental Disabilities Board of 

Visitors, Warm Springs, Montana 

For Respondent: 

Mike Weber, Richland County Attorney, Sidney, 

Montana; Hon. Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General, 

John Paulson, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, 

Montana 

Filed: 

Submitted on ~riefs: January 27, 1994 

Decided: February 11, 1994 
Justice James C. Nelson delivered the Opinion of the Court. 

D.B. appeals a portion of an Order of Commitment of the 

Seventh Judicial District Court, Richland County, authorizing the 

involuntary administration of medications. We reverse and remand. 

The issue on appeal is as follows: did the District Court err 

by including, in its Order of Commitment, a directive allowing D.B. 

to be forcibly medicated? 

On August 13, 1993, a Petition for Involuntary Commitment was 

filed in Richland County alleging that D.B. was seriously mentally 

ill and requesting his commitment to a mental health facility for 

a period of not more than three months. That same day, District 

Judge Richard Phillips found probable cause for D.B.'s detention 

pending a hearing. D.B. requested that he be detained at the 

county jail rather than in the Glendive Medical Center, and this 

request was granted by Judge Phillips. The court appointed Douglas 

Walter, a certified professional person, to examine D.B., which Dr. 

Walter did on August 14, 1993. 

On August 18, 1993, a hearing was held before District Judge 

Kenneth Wilson, and D.B. was represented by counsel. Bev Deitz, an 

intensive case manager forthe Eastern Montana Mental Health Center 

(Health Center), testified, as did Kay Johnson, the day treatment 

coordinator at the Health Center. Both women testified that they 

had encountered D.B. on a street in Sidney on August 13, 1993, and 

that D.B. told them that the Richland National Bank had kept a 

hundred million dollars from him and he was going to go to the bank 

and kill the people there. In addition, D.B. threatened to go to 

2 
the Cattle-ac, a local bar, and kill everyone there. D.B. also 

threatened to kill Ms. Dietz and Ms. Johnson. Both women testified 

that D.B. spoke rapidly and continuously, appeared extremely 

agitated, and was hallucinating about aliens from outer space. 

Dr. Walter filed a Report to the Court on the day of the 

hearing and also testified. Dr. Walter stated that he was unable 

to obtain much background information on D.B., as D.B. was 

suspicious of Dr. Walter's intent and had difficulty organizing his 

thoughts. Dr. Walter further testified that D.B. appeared to be 

confused and disoriented, and believed that the telephone in his 

jail cell was *lbuggedlt by communists. D.B. also told Dr. Walter 

that he was waiting for a check to be delivered to him for a 

hundred million dollars. He said the source of that money was a 

hundred movie stars and that some of it was partial payment for a 

film he made with Donna Summer entitled "Donna and Don." Dr. 

Walter testified that D.B. had a "loosening of association" and 

diagnosed D.B. with chronic paranoid schizophrenia. He testified 

that D.B. posed an imminent threat of injury to himself and to 

others, and stated that D.B. was seriously mentally ill. Dr. 

Walter recommended that D.B. receive "inpatient evaluation for 

medication, treatment" and that this "evaluation and treatmentt1 

occur at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs. 

David Schettine, a detective sergeant with the Sidney Police 

Department, testified that he and three other officers served the 

commitment papers on D.B. When Mr. Schettine served D.B., he 

ripped up the papers and stated that the president had already 
pardoned him. D.B. also spoke of aliens. Mr. Schettine testified 

that D.B. accompanied the officers, but refused to get out of the 

car and struck Mr. Schettine when he attempted to remove D.B. from 

the car. 

During the hearing, D.B. threatened the District Judge and had 

to be restrained from leaving the courtroom a number of times. He 

continually disrupted the proceedings by cursing and threatening 

the participants. At one point, D.B. stated that "this ain't the 

only planet I'm dealing witht1 and stated that the telephone in his 

jail cell was a "communist phone." 

After the hearing, the District Court entered Findings of Fact 

and Conclusions of Law and determined that D.B. was seriously 

mentally ill. The court signed an Order of Commitment, and in this 

order stated that "if the patient refuses oral medication, the 

attending physician at Montana State Hospital shall have the 

authority to administer medication by injection if necessary.11 

D.B. appeals that portion of the order dealing with the forced 

medication. 

In the Petition for Involuntary Commitment, the Richland 

County Attorney did not allege that D.B. had refused medication or 

that the possibility existed that D.B. would refuse medication, and 

did not request that D.B. be forcibly medicated. At the hearing, 

the medication issue was only peripherally addressed, at best. 

D.B. had no notice, prior to the entry of the Order of Commitment, 

that forcible medication was an issue. The District Court 

gratuitously included the order that D.B. was to be forcibly 
medicated, if necessary. Therefore, without reaching or addressing 

the constitutional issues raised by D.B. in his briefs on appeal, 

we hold that the District Court erred in including the language 

allowing the state hospital to forcibly medicate D.B., and order 

that portion of the Order of Commitment stricken. 

Reversed and remanded with instructions. 

Pursuant to Section I, Paragraph 3(c), Montana Supreme Court 

1988 Internal Operating Rules, this decision shall not be cited as 

precedent and shall be published by its filing as a public document 

with the Clerk of this Court and by a report of its result to the 

We Concur: 
THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE STATE BAR OF 

MONTANA, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1994, AT 9:00 A.M.: 

Deborah J. Schaaf 

Helena, Montana 

Michael D. Isakson 

Kalispell, Montana 

Bruce R. Elworthy 

Tahoe City, California 

Anne B. Marshall 

Tahoe City, California 
February 11, 1994 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that the following order was sent by United States mail, prepaid, to the 

following named: 

Lonnie J. Olson 

Mental Disabilities, Board of Visitors 

P. 0. Box 177 

Warm Springs, MT 59756 

Mike Weber 

Richland County Attorney 

Courthouse, 201 W. Main 

Sidney, MT 59270 

Hon. Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General 

John Paulson, Assistant 

Justice Bldg. 

Helena, MT 59620 

ED SMITH 

CLERK OF THE SUPREME COURT 

STATE OF MONTANA,