Court Opinion

ID: 9719916
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:08:57.29582+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:11.147581
License: Public Domain

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, CHIEF JUSTICE
¶ 30. (concurring). I agree with the State that a mistake was made in this case. No one — not the court, not the prosecutor, not defense counsel, not jail officials, not the Department of Health and Family Services, not any mental health facility and not Michael Hager — could have intended Michael Hager to remain in jail for five months without having his competency evaluation completed and without any action of any kind taken on his case. Yet for reasons unexplained on the record, no one realized that Michael Hager was sitting in the county jail for five months without any activity on his case.
¶ 31. Although the circuit court ordered Hager's evaluation from the bench, no written court order was ever issued. Whoever was supposed to prepare the order so that Hager could be transported to the appropriate institution for evaluation apparently failed to do so. The only written record we have is a transcript of *702the circuit court's statements from the bench, and those statements are brief. I agree with the State that on this record, it is impossible to determine whether the circuit court intended to order an evaluation under Wis. Stat. § 971.14(2)(a) or under Wis. Stat. § 971.14(2)(am).
¶ 32. The State is also correct, I think, in concluding that regardless of whether the circuit court was acting under Wis. Stat. § 971.14(2)(a) or Wis. Stat. § 971.14(2)(am), no time limits ever began to run in this case. The 15-day period under § 971.14(2)(am) begins upon the arrival of a defendant at the inpatient facility. Everyone agrees that Hager never arrived at an inpatient facility.
¶ 33. The 15-day and 30-day periods under Wis. Stat. § 971.14(2)(c) begin after the examination is ordered by the circuit court. These time periods do not apply in this case, in my opinion, because no written order for a competency examination was ever actually issued by the circuit court. Although the statutes do not expressly require the circuit court order to be in writing, unless the order is in writing and issued the participants in the justice system have no notice of the circuit court's decision and have ho notice of what action must be taken. I conclude that under the circumstances of this case, a circuit court order pursuant to § 971.14(2)(a) must be in writing to trigger the time periods set forth in § 971.14(2)(c). Because no such written order was issued, I conclude that the 15-day and 30-day periods prescribed in § 971.14(2)(c) were not triggered in the present case.
¶ 34. If there is anyone in jail who cannot fend for himself, it is the incompetent individual. Michael Hager fell through the cracks. The legal system failed him. Yet the system offers Hager no remedy for his five *703months in jail and the delay of his case. I am compelled to concur in the mandate because I have not been persuaded that Hager's due process rights have been violated.
¶ 35. For the reasons stated, I concur.
¶ 36. I am authorized to state that JUSTICE ANN WALSH BRADLEY joins this concurrence.