Court Opinion

ID: 9741883
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:03:29.949555+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:27.000376
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Justice,
concurring specially.
The majority opinion observes the issue considered therein is inherent in the eviden-tiary issues raised by R.Z. I concur in the conclusion that a respondent in a mental-health proceeding may waive counsel and assert the right to self-representation only if the waiver is knowing and intelligent and voluntary and only if it appears on the record, and that absent such conditions a respondent in an involuntary-commitment proceeding may not represent himself; but I believe clear and convincing evidence was adduced to support the involuntary-hospitalization order.
Therefore, in view of what we were told by R.Z. at oral argument, I am not convinced that a new hearing is essential. R.Z. informed us that what he requests is a transfer from the State Hospital to the Veterans’ Administration facility at St. Cloud, Minnesota. That facility apparently is a facility contemplated by Section 25-03.-1-34, N.D.C.C., permitting transfer of patients. If, indeed, R.Z. is eligible for transfer; if the Veterans’ Administration is willing to accept him; if the superintendent of the State Hospital agrees it is in R.Z.’s interest to do so; and if, after consultation with counsel, R.Z. agrees that this is an acceptable alternative to a new hearing, I would not require, as does the majority opinion, that a new hearing be held.