Court Opinion

ID: 9531627
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:13:28.786617+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:33.103471
License: Public Domain

KLEINSCHMIDT, Judge,
dissenting:
I agree with the majority on all but one point. In my opinion, the petitioner at the commitment proceeding did not present two or more witnesses who were acquainted with the appellant as required by A.R.S. section 36-539(B). The two witnesses who purported to serve in that capacity, Thomas Vendetti and Zenia Kuzma, were health care professionals whose only contact with the appellant was to examine him for the purpose of evaluating whether he was, or was not, committable. They could offer no more perspective on the question than could the examining physicians who the court in In re Burchett, 23 Ariz.App. 11, 530 P.2d 368 (1975), said were not persons “acquainted with” the patient.
The statute sets forth two classes of witnesses whose testimony is required. Those who have examined the person to evaluate him or her for commitment and those who are acquainted with the person. The statute contemplates that two witnesses must have had a chance to observe the subject’s behavior in some environment other than a commitment evaluation interview. Such witnesses may or may not be professionals, and they need not be well *530acquainted with the person whose commitment is sought. As to candidates for commitment who may be transients or have no family or friends who can testify about them, police officers, guards, nurses, orderlies, treating physicians, or social workers might, for example, well serve the purpose of the statute. See Matter of Appeal in Pima County, 143 Ariz. 338, 693 P.2d 993 (App.1984).
I would vacate, the order for commitment.