Court Opinion

ID: 9743590
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:37:25.430784+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:42.273463
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. My colleagues conclude that under the facts of this case an actual physical release of defendant was not necessary to effect a “discharge” since, according to the appropriate documents, defendant was discharged on paper. As authority, In re Splett (1991), 143 Ill. 2d 225, 572 N.E.2d 883, is cited. Splett, however, is based on a contrary set of facts. In Splett, the supreme court found the failure to give Splett the required statutory notice was harmless since the record showed that Splett had actual notice of the proceedings. The supreme court concluded the legislative intent in fact had been achieved. In the case at bar, however, defendant was given the appropriate document of discharge, yet not discharged in fact; the opposite of the legislative intent resulted in this case. My colleagues note there is nothing in the record indicating defendant tried to leave the facility, wanted to leave, or was prevented from leaving the Choate Center. What this void in the record indicates is that, in reality, there was no discharge, merely an on-paper discharge. Such is not the legislative intent. While this position might seem hypertechnical, the rationale for strict compliance was eloquently stated by this court in People v. Valentine (1990), 201 Ill. App. 3d 10, 558 N.E.2d 807, in its discussion of the statutory requirement that an involuntarily committed patient be examined within 24 hours: “The legislature has created a bright line. The State has 24 hours. No doubt, the bright line was created as a prophylactic against deciding these kinds of cases on an ad hoc basis. When we recall that other governments have used involuntary commitment to a mental hospital as a ruse, as a device to silence critics, we feel that this bright line is but one brick in a wall against the evils of tyranny that we, in this country, have erected. One brief glance toward the recent history of Eastern Europe is persuasive of the wisdom of that wall, the wisdom of this rule. Any noncompliance with the statutory prescribed involuntary commitment procedures renders the judgment entered in such a cause erroneous and of no effect.” 201 Ill. App. 3d at 13-14, 558 N.E.2d at 809-10. Such should be the result in this case.