Opinion ID: 2611902
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Social Costs

Text: The social costs of applying the exclusionary rule to LPS conservatorship proceedings are minimal. Once aware of the warrant requirement, department employees will have a significant incentive to respect the privacy rights of detainees. [3] There is no reason to think that important evidence will be lost or destroyed if mental health authorities are required to obtain a warrant before entering the home of a person thought to be gravely disabled. [4] In the unusual event that a search is conducted in violation of the constitutional requirement, it is unlikely that the trier of fact would be seriously hampered in reaching a rational conclusion about the potential conservatee's mental condition. Contrary to the majority's conclusion, a court applying the exclusionary rule would not be required to ignore the existence of a continuing state of grave disability. The trier of fact will have the opportunity to hear evidence presented by the mental health professionals who administered the mandatory psychiatric evaluations and treatment of the proposed conservatee (§ 5152 [evaluation during 72-hour hold under § 5150]; § 5251 et seq. [certification for intensive treatment]; § 5260 [confinement for additional treatment]). The court also receives, and may enter into evidence, a comprehensive written report mandated by the act, which must contain all relevant aspects of the person's medical, psychological, financial, family, vocational and social condition, and information obtained from the person's family members, close friends, social worker or principal therapist. (§ 5354.) Moreover, as this case demonstrates, evidence may also be presented by other percipient witnesses, including family and neighbors. The proposed conservatee may also be required to testify at the conservatorship trial. (See Conservatorship of Baber, supra, 153 Cal. App.3d at p. 550 [proposed conservatee cannot refuse to testify at conservatorship proceeding].) Thus, the LPS Act itself reduces the risk that a gravely disabled person will be released without imposition of a conservatorship. Indeed, as the majority observe, the longer a detainee remains in treatment under the interim involuntary commitment provisions of the act, the less need the department will have to rely on extrinsic evidence to demonstrate grave disability. Precisely because LPS Act conservatorship proceedings involve a continuing state of grave disability and not a single act, the social costs of requiring mental health workers to comply with the constitutional limits on the invasion of personal privacy are minimized. Moreover, unlike criminal proceedings in which the risk is that a guilty person will be set free, in the LPS Act context a person released can be detained again if she exhibits new behavior demonstrating grave disability as a result of a mental disorder. (See Conservatorship of Baber, supra, 153 Cal. App.3d at pp. 549-550 [double jeopardy doctrine inapplicable in LPS conservatorship proceedings].) A person detained under the LPS Act, like all other citizens, has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the sanctity of her home. Although the goals of the LPS Act are beneficent, the loss of liberty and reputation to a conservatee is grave. Weighing the costs and benefits, I can see no basis for ignoring the fundamental guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures in conducting investigations of potential conservatees. Accordingly, I would apply the exclusionary rule to LPS Act conservatorship proceedings.