Court Opinion

ID: 9588101
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:30:07.976841+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:00:55.863223
License: Public Domain

ON REHEARING
In State ex rel. Harper v. Zegeer, 170 W.Va. 743, 296 S.E.2d 873 (1982), this Court recognized that chronic alcoholism is a disease and held that criminal punishment of alcoholics for public intoxication constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of article three, section five of the West Virginia Constitution. In the decision, the Court delayed the effective date of the ruling until July 1, 1983. This was done in order to allow local and state government officials time to develop more efficient and facile (but not superficial) methods for detaining and treating alcoholics than presently are available.
Twenty days after the decision was handed down, the Attorney General of West Virginia, who was not a party and did not participate in Harper, filed a motion to intervene and to extend the time period for filing a motion for rehearing. At the time the Attorney General filed his motion, ten days remained in the rehearing period. Although the Attorney General could have been successful had he submitted a brief with his motion, in its absence we viewed the Attorney General’s motion as dilatory and therefore denied it.
The Attorney General did, however, make a brief assignment of grounds for his motion to intervene, and we here take note of those claims. The Attorney General’s fundamental concern relates to the fact that the decision affects law enforcement officers in their arrests of persons for public intoxication. As we will discuss below, Harper does not affect the duty of such officers to uphold the law and to arrest persons suspected of being publicly intoxicated. The Attorney General’s second contention is that the decision does not “provide clear guidance to law-enforcement agencies and lower judicial bodies as to their respective responsibilities in dealing with public inebriates between the date of the Court’s decision and July 1, 1983.” However, the Legislature has already detailed the responsibilities for the detention and treatment of persons suffering from the disease of alcoholism. The Court assumed law enforcement agencies to be familiar with this law.
Soon after the Court denied the Attorney General’s motion, a nineteen-year-old *752youth, jailed on a public intoxication charge, committed suicide in the same South Charleston jail as that involved in Harper. In reaction to this tragic incident, the petitioner in Harper moved the Court, in a petition for rehearing, to “clarify that incarcerating persons for public intoxication in West Virginia jails is currently unconstitutional.” The petition requested that we “set forth with particularity which class of intoxicated persons, if any, can be incarcerated, where that incarceration may take place, and under what conditions,” and that we make the opinion effective immediately or detail minimum constitutional requirements for jailing those arrested for public intoxication. The Court granted the petitioner’s motion for rehearing, and ordered that the Attorney General be noticed and allowed to participate in the proceeding. The case was subsequently reargued, and the issues raised by the petitioner’s motion for a rehearing were addressed. The Attorney General appeared and filed a “Statement of Position of the Attorney General”, in which he outlined his previous claims. Stephen and Patricia O’Keefe, the parents of the nineteen-year-old youth who committed suicide in the South Charleston jail, were permitted to intervene in the proceeding and filed an amicus brief.
This Court has not declared W.Va.Code § 60-6-9 (1977 Replacement Vol.), to be unconstitutional. That statute provides:
A person shall not:
(1) Appear in a public place in an intoxicated condition;
(2) Drink alcoholic liquor in a public place;
(3) Drink alcoholic liquor in a motor vehicle on any highway, street, alley or in a public garage;
(4) Tender a drink of alcoholic liquor to another person in a public place;
(5) Possess alcoholic liquor in the amount in excess of one gallon, in containers not bearing stamps or seals of the commission, without having first obtained written authority from the said commission therefor;
(6)Possess any alcoholic liquor which was manufactured or acquired in violation of the provisions of this chapter.
Any person who violates subsections one, two, three or four of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars, or confined in jail not more than sixty days, or both such fine and imprisonment. Any person who violates subsection five or six of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or confined in jail not less than sixty days nor more than twelve months, or both such fine and imprisonment, and upon conviction of a second or subsequent offense he shall be guilty of a felony and shall be confined in the penitentiary of this State for a period of not less than one year nor more than three years.
The sheriff of any county or his deputy is hereby authorized and empowered to arrest and hold in custody, without a warrant, until complaint may be made before a [magistrate] and a warrant issued, any person who in the presence of such sheriff or deputy violates any one or more of subsection.
When a law enforcement officer perceives a violation of this statute, he has a duty to see that the law is “faithfully executed” in order to enforce the public’s right to have violators removed from public areas.
The law of this jurisdiction provides law enforcement officials two procedural options when they encounter a person they believe to be in violation of W.Va.Code § 60-6-9, First, they may issue a citation as provided in W.Va.Code § 62-l-5a (1982 Cum.Supp.). This statute allows law enforcement officers to issue citations to persons who have committed misdemeanors in their presence. The citation specifies that the cited individual must appear before a , magistrate within a specified time. This is a particularly useful procedure when dealing with persons who are in violation of W.Va.Code § 60-6-9(2), (3), (4), (5) and (6). It could also be useful when dealing with *753violations of W.Va.Code § 60-6-9(1), if the accused is not devoid of the capacity “to properly conduct himself or herself, or his or her affairs, or is [not] dangerous to himself or herself or others, by reason of drunkenness _” W.Va.Code § 27-1-4 (1980 Replacement Vol.), and if another responsible individual is present and agrees to assume responsibility for the safe conduct of the accused.
However, if the officer believes the accused violator lacks the capacity to conduct his or her own affairs, and no other individual is willing to undertake responsibility for the violator, or if the officer “has reasonable cause to believe that the person is likely to cause serious harm to himself or others ....,” id., the person may be arrested. Law enforcement officers are authorized and empowered to arrest and hold in custody, without a warrant, for the purpose of bringing before a magistrate any person who in their presence appears in a public place in an intoxicated condition. W.Va.Code § 60-6-9; see also W.Va.Code § 62-10-9 (1977 Replacement Vol.). The law requires that the accused must be taken before a magistrate “without unnecessary delay” for a probable cause and bail hearing. W.Va.Code § 62-1-5 (1977 Replacement Vol.).1 By the rules of this Court magistrates are available 24 hours a day. W.Va. Magistrate Ct.R. 4(c).
Presentment before a judicial officer before incarceration on a criminal charge is basic to due process. It has been a fundamental principle of English law since the affirmation of the Magna Carta by King John in 1215 that no freeman shall be imprisoned except as prescribed by the law of the land.2 The Magna Carta, which was confirmed some thirty times during the Middle Ages, 2 W. Holdsworth, A History of English Law at 219 (7th ed. 1956), is but of historical interest, but the constitutions of the United States and West Virginia and the fundamental concept of due process is the law under which we live today. U.S. Const, amend. V; W.Va. Const, art. 3, § 10. Also recognized in our organic law is the requirement of probable cause prior to the seizure of persons. U.S. Const, amend. IV; W.Va. Const, art. 3, § 6.
The Legislature, elaborating upon these guarantees of due process, enacted a statute in 1965 which requires that all executive law enforcement officers “making an arrest under a warrant issued upon a complaint, or any person making an arrest without a warrant for an offense committed in his presence, shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before a [magistrate] of the county in which the arrest is made.” (Emphasis added). W.Va.Code § 62-1-5. In State v. Mason, 162 W.Va. 297, 249 S.E.2d 793 (1978), we held that this statutory provision is mandatory. The requirement of prompt presentment after arrest for a judicial determination of probable cause is also mandated by Rule 5(a) of our Rules of Criminal Procedure, which provides that: “an officer making an arrest under a warrant issued upon a complaint or any person making an arrest without a warrant shall take the arrested person without unnecessary delay before a magistrate within the county where the arrest is made.” (Emphasis added). Thus, it is the law of West Virginia that no person may be imprisoned or incarcerated prior to presentment before a judicial officer and the issuance of a proper commitment order. The disposition of persons accused of crime is prescribed by law, not by the caprice of executive and judicial authorities.
In addition to the probable cause determination, other vital due process purposes are served by the prompt presentment requirement. At the preliminary appearance *754before the magistrate, the defendant is informed of his right against self-incrimination and his right to counsel. The magistrate is required to “inform the defendant of the nature of the complaint against him.” W.Va.Code § 62-1-6 (1977 Replacement Vol.); see also W.Va.R.Crim.P. 5. If the offense is to be presented for indictment, the defendant must be informed of his right to a preliminary hearing. Id. At his initial appearance, the defendant must be provided the opportunity to communicate with an attorney, or with another person for the purpose of obtaining counsel or arranging bail. Id. As we stated in State v. Persinger, 169 W.Va. 121, 286 S.E.2d 261, 270 (1982): “These are substantial rights which the legislature has mandated that should be accorded a person who has been arrested. To permit these valuable rights to be denied or substantially postponed by police officials is plainly against the tenor of the legislative will.”
Upon presentment, the arresting officer’s only role is that of a complaining witness. Upon his complaint, the judicial officer must determine whether the probative evidence indicates that probable cause exists to believe that the defendant was publicly intoxicated at the time of arrest. If the judicial officer does not find probable cause, then the defendant must be released. If probable cause is found, a warrant for the offense is issued, and the proceeding must then focus on the accused’s release on bail.
The judicial officer may release the charged individual on his own recognizance or other bond upon a determination that the accused possesses the necessary rational capability to conduct his own affairs. W.Va.Code § 62-1C-1 (1977 Replacement Vol'.). Alternatively, the judicial officer may release the individual into the custody of a responsible person who agrees to be responsible for the accused’s actions. However, if it is determined that the accused is an “inebriate”, defined by statute as “anyone over the age of eighteen years who is incapable or unfit to properly conduct himself or herself, or his or her affairs, or is dangerous to himself or herself or others, by reason of ... drunkenness ...,” W.Va.Code § 27-1-4 (1980 Replacement Vol.), an alternative disposition must be made under the applicable mental health statutes.
If the arresting officer has knowledge that the accused has a previous history of arrests for public intoxication, he has a duty under W.Va.Code § 60-6-9 to bring these facts to the attention of the judicial officer, or to make application for involuntary hospitalization for examination of an accused who, because of his inebriated state, is likely to harm himself or others if allowed to remain at liberty. See W.Va. Code § 27-5-2 (1982 Cum.Supp.). Upon such application, or upon his own authority, the judicial officer may order that the defendant be remanded to the custody of the nearest county or regional mental health facility3 approved by the state, or a state-*755operated mental health facility. Such order must be based on a finding that the accused, because of his own intoxicated condition or other relevant factors, including for example propensity for violence, constitutes a danger to himself or others. Commitment to such a facility may extend for no more than 24 hours without a judicial determination of the need for further detention. W.Va.Code §§ 27-1-4; 27-5-2, 27-1A-11 (1980 Replacement Vol. & 1982 Cum.Supp.). The county jailer, who may be a deputy sheriff, shall be responsible for transporting such individuals “to and from the place of hearing and the mental health facility.” W.Va.Code § 27-5-l(d) (1980 Replacement Vol.); see also W.Va.Code §§ 7-8-2, -4 (1976 Replacement Vol.). The arresting officer is not authorized by law to provide transportation to or from the mental health facility where the inebriate is to be detoxified.
The Legislature has statutorily created the Department of Health’s Division of Mental Health and its Alcoholism and Drug Abuse unit. W.Va.Code § 27-1A-11 (1980 Replacement Vol.). The alcohol abuse personnel “shall assist the director of the department in the establishment of a program for the care, treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics .... ” Id. The department is required to accept all alcoholics and drug abusers who are involuntarily committed. Id.
Additionally, the Legislature has given the Department of Health responsibility for “the care, treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug abusers ....” The director has an affirmative duty to provide for a “comprehensive program for the care, treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug abusers _” W.Va.Code § 16-1-10(19) (1979 Replacement Vol.). It is clear that the Legislature has vested primary responsibility for the treatment of alcoholics in the Department of Health Division of Mental Health. The Legislature has clearly demonstrated by enactment of the mental health laws that it does not contemplate that inebriated persons, as defined by law, should be detained in jails or lockups. The Legislature has specified de*756tailed procedures for dealing with alcohol related problems and has directed the Department of Health and its Division of Mental Health to execute those procedures.
The Legislature has provided a means of payment for such treatment via revenue obtained by sale of alcoholic beverages. W.Va.Code § 60-3-9c (1977 Replacement Vol.). Additionally, state law authorizes the director of health to seek reimbursement for the cost of maintenance of patients admitted to state hospitals from the patients themselves or appropriate relatives, provided such individuals have sufficient assets that payment will not work an undue hardship on them. W.Va.Code § 27-8-1 (1980 Replacement Vol.). A third source of revenue is further provided by W.Va.Code § 27-8-2 (1980 Replacement Vol.). If the state hospital is unable to collect a minimum of $150 per annum toward the maintenance of a patient, the county of which the patient is a resident is required to pay the difference between the amount, if any, collected by the institution and $150. W.Va.Code § 27-8-2. Provided, however, that if the county commission establishes a comprehensive local mental health program that is approved by the state director of health, the county may deduct the cost of such program from the payments required by W.Va.Code § 27-8-2. See W.Va.Code § 27-8-2a (1980 Replacement Vol.).
Once an individual has been placed in the custody of a mental health facility via a temporary commitment order, the facility’s personnel must provide the necessary care and observation until the person recovers the full use of his faculties. If within the twenty-four hour commitment period the person recovers the use of his faculties, he may be released from the custody of Mental Health and returned to a judicial officer who must inform the accused of his rights and release him on bail.
At this point, it must be remembered that the individual remains charged with the crime of public intoxication. That charge must be disposed of through legal proceedings. At this stage of the proceedings, our holding in Harper that chronic alcoholics may not be imprisoned for the offense of public intoxication becomes operative. The Legislature has defined an alcoholic as “any person who chronically and habitually uses alcoholic beverages to the extent that he loses the power of self-control as to the use of such beverages, or, while chronically and habitually under the influence of alcoholic beverages, endangers public morals, health, safety or welfare.” W.Va.Code § 16-l-10(19)(a). Chronic alcoholism is a defense to a charge of public intoxication. Upon a showing that an accused is a chronic alcoholic, he is to be accorded all of the procedural safeguards that surround those with mental disabilities who are accused of crime.
Recognition of this defense to a charge of public intoxication is based on the rationale that alcoholism is a disease and that alcoholics are incapable of controlling their behavior with respect to the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Alcoholics lack the requisite responsibility to engage in the criminal act of public intoxication. By legislative mandate an alcoholic is one who has lost “the power of self-control as to the use of such beverages .... ” W.Va.Code § 16-l-10(19)(a). A finding of chronic alcoholism is to be treated as proof of addiction as required by W.Va.Code § 27-6A-5. Therefore the defendant may be hospitalized for up to 40 days for observation and examination. Id. Civil commitment proceedings may be initiated during this period. Id.
The situation may arise when a person suspected of being an alcoholic pleads guilty to the charge of public intoxication. In such cases, the prosecutor has a duty to offer all known evidence which proves or disapproves the accused’s addiction to alcohol. The judicial officer attending the proceeding may render verdicts of not guilty, guilty or not guilty by reason of alcoholism. If the person is found not guilty by reason of alcoholism, he may be committed as discussed above. A verdict of guilty should result in treatment of the accused as provided by law.
The Legislature already has provided a method of payment for treatment of indi*757viduals committed after trial. In 1969, the Legislature ordered the alcoholic beverage control commissioner “to increase the price of alcoholic liquors ... in an amount sufficient to produce an additional annual revenue of one million dollars _” W.Va. Code § 60-3-9c. The purpose of the price increase and the additional revenue is dedicated to “care, treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics .... ” Id. The statute clearly mandates that at least $1 million is to be spent annually on these programs. This has not occurred.
We notice the budget requests made by the governor and the appropriations approved by the Legislature since enactment of the statute in 1969. Despite the command of the West Virginia Constitution that the governor shall prepare a proposed budget in accordance with law, W.Va. Const, art. 6, § 51, the chief executive, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has proposed expenditures of $1 million dedicated to treatment of alcoholics but once since 1969. Thus, the Legislature has failed to appropriate at least $1 million for any fiscal year between 1969 and 1980. Because separate budget requests and appropriations for the alcoholic/drug abuse unit of the Division of Mental Health have been merged with other divisions since 1980, we cannot determine whether the governor and the Legislature have been any more successful in complying with the law since that time. What can be determined is that of the $11 million collected and due programs dealing with treatment of alcoholics, $4,721,802 has been appointed without including the period from 1980 to 1983. Thus, $6,278,198 collected and dedicated by law to the treatment of alcoholics has not been applied to the purpose intended. Compliance with the law could help solve the problem of how to deal with persons habitually charged with public intoxication.
In outlining the procedures which currently exist, we do not intend to suggest that they are convenient, adequate, efficient, or that they meet the standards set forth in the initial opinion. The procedures we have outlined are minimum statutory requirements now mandated by the Legislature. They need to be streamlined to produce more coordinated procedures and a more easily administered program.

. The judicial officer may also be a municipal judge or a mayor acting as a municipal judge. See W.Va.Code §§ 8-10-1, -2 (1982 Cum.Supp.)

. The thirty-ninth clause of the Magna Carta provides: "Nullus liber homo capiatur vel im-prisonetur, aut disseisiatur aut utlagetur, aut exuletur, aut aliquo modo destruatur, nec super eum ibimus nec super eum mittemus, nisi per legale judicium parium vel per Iegum terrae." (“No freeman shall be taken or/and imprisoned, or disseised, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor will we send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or/and by the law of the land.”) 1 W. Holdsworth, A History of English Law at 59 (7th ed. 1956).

. The West Virginia Department of Health offers alcohol and drug services through Community Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Centers located throughout the state.
Authorities in the respective counties should contact the following mental health centers to determine the nearest facility:
In Mercer, McDowell and Wyoming Counties, MERCER-MCDOWELL-WYOMING MENTAL HEALTH COUNCIL, INC.
12th Street Extension
Princeton, West Virginia 24740
Telephone: 425-9543 or 425-9541;
In Fayette, Monroe, Raleigh and Summers Counties,
FAYETTE-MONROE-RALEIGH-SUMMERS MENTAL HEALTH COUNCIL, INC.
101 South Eisenhower Drive
Beckley, West Virginia 25801
Telephone: 252-8651;
In Logan and Mingo Counties,
LOGAN-MINGO AREA MENTAL HEALTH, INC.
Route 10, 3-Mile Curve
Box 176
Logan, West Virginia 25601
Telephone: 752-6320 or 752-4357 (Help Line in Service 24-Hour);
In Cabell, Lincoln, Mason and Wayne Counties, PRESTERA CENTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
P.O. Box 8069
3375 U.S. Route 60, East
Huntington, West Virginia 25705
Telephone: 525-7851;
In Kanawha, Boone, Putnam and Clay Counties, SHAWNEE HILLS COMMUNITY MH/MR CENTER, INC.
Suite 305, Morris Square
*7551212 Lewis Street
Charleston, West Virginia 25301
Telephone: 345-4800;
In Nicholas, Webster, Pocahontas and Greenbrier Counties,
SENECA MENTAL HEALTH/MENTAL RETARDATION COUNCIL, INC.
6 School Street
Richwood, West Virginia 26261
Telephone: 846-2566;
In Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wirt and Wood Counties,
WESTERN DISTRICT GUIDANCE CENTER
2121 7th Street
Parkersburg, West Virginia 26101
Telephone: 485-1721;
In Marion, Monongalia, Taylor and Preston Counties,
VALLEY COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER
301 Scott Avenue
Morgantown, West Virginia 26505
Telephone: 296-1731;
In Braxton, Doddridge, Gilmer, Lewis and Harrison Counties,
CENTRAL DISTRICT MENTAL HEALTH CENTER, INC.
Administrative Offices
#6 Hospital Plaza
Clarksburg, West Virginia 26301
Telephone: 623-5661;
In Barbour, Randolph, Tucker and Upshur Counties,
APPALACHIAN MENTAL HEALTH CENTER
Yokum and Wilmoth Streets
P.O. Box 1170
Elkins, West Virginia 26241
Telephone: 636-3232;
In Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral and Pen-dleton Counties,
POTOMAC HIGHLANDS MENTAL HEALTH GUILD, INC.
136 S. Main Street
P.O. Box 1179
Petersburg, West Virginia 26847
Telephone: 257-4687;
In Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan Counties, EASTERN PANHANDLE MENTAL HEALTH CENTER
235 South Water Street
P.O. Box L
Martinsburg, West Virginia 25401
Telephone: 263-8954;
In Marshall, Ohio and Wetzel Counties, NORTHERN PANHANDLE MENTAL HEALTH CENTER, INC.
2121 Eoff Street
Wheeling, West Virginia 26003
Telephone: 233-6250;
In Hancock and Brooke Counties, HANCOCK-BROOKE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE
P.O. Box 2010
Weirton, West Virginia 26062
Telephone: 723-5440.