Opinion ID: 1060630
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: involuntary care and treatment

Text: Prior to sentencing, Blackstock filed a petition for involuntary care and treatment as a mentally retarded offender pursuant to Tenn.Code Ann. § 33-5-301, et seq. (1984 & Supp.1999). The trial court denied the petition because it had not been filed prior to trial and instead sentenced Blackstock to serve eight years in the Department of Correction. The State maintains that the trial court properly determined that its authority to order commitment exists only before trial because the language of Tenn.Code Ann. § 33-5-305(a)(1)(B) (Supp.1999) is predicated upon findings related to a defendant's competency to stand trial and also because the Department of Correction has its own authority to initiate proceedings for transferring an inmate to an appropriate facility for mentally retarded offenders. Tenn.Code Ann. § 33-3-402 (Supp.1999). Blackstock argues, however, and the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed, that the trial court's authority exists before and after conviction because the definition of mentally retarded offender specifies he or she may be  a defendant at any stage in the criminal or juvenile justice system.  Tenn.Code Ann. § 33-5-303(1) (1984) (emphasis added).