FILED: September 30, 1998
ROBERT W. HANSON,
Petitioner,
v.
PSYCHIATRIC SECURITY REVIEW
BOARD,
Respondent.
En Banc*
Judicial Review from Psychiatric Security Review Board.
Submitted on record and briefs December 17, 1997; resubmitted en banc August 12, 1998.
Harris S. Matarazzo filed the brief for petitioner.
Hardy Myers, Attorney General, Virginia L. Linder, Solicitor General, and Katherine H. Waldo, Assistant Attorney General, filed the brief for respondent.
RIGGS, J. pro tempore.
Affirmed.
De Muniz, J., concurring.
Landau. J., dissenting.
*Linder, J., not participating.
RIGGS, J. pro tempore.
Petitioner seeks review of an order of the Psychiatric Security Review Board (PSRB or the board) denying his request for discharge from a state hospital. We affirm.
On January 19, 1995, petitioner was placed under PSRB jurisdiction for a maximum of 40 years following a trial at which he was found guilty except for insanity of the crimes of assault in the first degree and attempted murder. Those charges stemmed from an incident in September 1994. Petitioner, who by his own admission had consumed a six-pack of beer and a half pint of whiskey per day for many years preceding the incident, became convinced that he was being pursued by a gang of criminals intent on killing him. After three sleepless days during which he consumed nothing but alcohol, repeatedly called 911, and was arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants, he entered a DMV office in Portland for the purpose of resolving the DUII charge. While in the office, petitioner believed that he heard voices plotting his murder and concluded that a bystander, Maurice Thompson, was a member of the gang that was pursuing him. He approached Thompson and, without warning or provocation, stabbed him in the torso with a pocket knife, seriously injuring him.
Petitioner was arrested at the DMV office following a brief stand-off with police. Doctors who examined petitioner after his arrest variously diagnosed him with acute psychosis, homicidal ideation, paranoid ideation, drug abuse and alcohol dependence with delirium tremens. Those diagnoses were the basis for the trial verdict of guilty except for insanity.
Petitioner initially sought discharge from PSRB jurisdiction on April 10,
1995, in a hearing pursuant to ORS 161.341(7)(a). In its order following that hearing,
PSRB denied petitioner's request for discharge but found him eligible for conditional
release. However, the board found further that no facility for conditional release was
then available and kept petitioner in the state hospital.
On December 4, 1995, PSRB held another hearing, this time pursuant to
ORS 161.341(4),(1) after petitioner again requested discharge from the state hospital. The
board denied that request, repeating its earlier findings that petitioner should not be
discharged, and that he was eligible for conditional release but that he could not be
released because of the lack of proper facilities. The only witnesses at the hearing were
petitioner and Dr. Russell, his physician at the hospital. Russell testified that, according
to his diagnosis, petitioner was suffering from alcohol abuse, which is an Axis I clinical
disorder under the framework in the current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).(2) Russell further testified that he did not consider
alcohol abuse to be a mental disease or defect.
In its order, PSRB found that petitioner suffered from alcohol abuse, that
alcohol abuse is a mental disease or defect for purposes of ORS 161.341(4)(a), and that,
without adequate supervision, petitioner would continue to present a danger to others.
Petitioner challenges those findings, first on the ground that alcohol abuse is not a mental
disease or defect under Oregon law and second on the ground that the board's
determination was not supported by substantial evidence. We first address the contention
that alcohol abuse is not a mental disease or defect.
The terms "mental disease" and "mental defect" are not defined by statute.
They are defined, however, in PSRB's rules at OAR 859-010-0005:
"(4) 'Mental Disease.' Mental disease is defined as any diagnosis of
mental disorder which is a significant behavioral or psychological
syndrome or pattern that is associated with distress or disability causing
symptoms or impairment in at least one important area of an individual's
functioning and is defined in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders (DSMIV) of the American Psychiatric Association.
"(5) 'Mental Defect.' Mental defect is defined as mental retardation,
brain damage or other biological dysfunction that is associated with distress
or disability causing symptoms or impairment in at least one important area
of an individual's functioning and is defined in the current Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIV) of the American
Psychiatric Association."
The legislature, in a related statute, has created two exclusions from the definitions of
mental disease and mental defect. ORS 161.295(2), which limits the verdict of "guilty
except for insanity," states that
"the terms 'mental disease or defect' do not include an abnormality
manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct, nor
do they include any abnormality constituting solely a personality disorder."(3)
Petitioner argues that alcohol abuse falls within both of the exclusions in
ORS 161.295(2). Therefore, he contends, the board erred in finding that his condition
constitutes a mental disease or defect. We address first the claim that alcohol abuse is not
a mental disease or defect because it is "an abnormality constituting solely a personality
disorder."
Neither the legislature nor PSRB has defined the term "personality
disorder." However, the Supreme Court has recently addressed its meaning. Mueller v.
PSRB, 325 Or 332, 339, 937 P2d 1028 (1997). The court explored the scope of the
legislative exclusion by referring to the current edition of the DSM, stating:
"Because the phrase 'personality disorder' is a term of art as to which the
DSM * * * was the definitive source, this court has referred to the DSM for
guidance in cases involving individuals with mental diseases or defects."
Id. at 339.
In Mueller, the court looked at the DSM's definition and description of organic
personality syndrome in conjunction with the manual's definition of "personality
disorder" and determined that the syndrome was not solely a personality disorder. Id. at
342. Our task is to conduct the same inquiry concerning petitioner's condition.(4)
That inquiry leads us to conclude that alcohol abuse, like organic
personality syndrome, is not solely a personality disorder. The most compelling support
for that conclusion is the fact that the DSM-IV does not include alcohol abuse in its list of
personality disorders. As earlier noted, see note 2, Axis II of the DSM-IV's multiaxial
assessment framework lists and describes personality disorders. Axis II includes 11 such
disorders: paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic,
avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive and personality disorder not otherwise
specified. Alcohol abuse, on the other hand, is listed on Axis I, which describes clinical
disorders. The DSM-IV states that Axis I diagnoses like alcohol abuse may accompany
diagnoses of single or multiple Axis II personality disorders, but makes clear that the
conditions are different in kind and must be diagnosed and recorded differently. DSM-IV
at 631-32.
Further, alcohol abuse does not fit neatly within the definition and
descriptions of personality disorders in the DSM-IV. In characterizing such disorders, the
DSM-IV explains:
"A Personality Disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience
and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the
individual's culture, is pervasive and inflexible, had an onset in adolescence
or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment."
Id. at 629.
Personality disorders are maladaptive and inflexible personality traits. Id. at 630. For
example, schizoid personality disorder features "a pervasive pattern of detachment from
social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal
settings," id. at 638, and patients who exhibit histrionic personality disorder are
diagnosed based upon their "pervasive and excessive emotionality and attention-seeking
behavior." Id. at 655.
Alcohol abuse, on the other hand, is not defined in terms of personality
traits, as such. Rather, it is a subset of the disorder known as substance abuse, which is a
"maladaptive pattern of substance use manifested by recurrent and significant adverse
consequences related to the repeated use of substances." Id. at 182. The defining feature
of alcohol abuse is the maladaptive use of alcohol. That behavior is not a "personality
trait" in the sense that, for example, emotionality or detachment are. The fact that alcohol
abuse is defined and described in terms significantly different from those used to describe
personality disorders suggests strongly that it is not such a disorder under the DSM-IV.
See Mueller, 325 Or at 342 (definition, characteristics of organic personality syndrome
distinguish it from list of personality disorders). Because the DSM-IV informs our
interpretation of the statutory text at issue, id. at 339, we conclude that alcohol abuse is
not "solely a personality disorder" within the meaning of ORS 161.295(2) and OAR 859-010-0005(6)(b).
We also reject petitioner's contention that alcohol abuse is not a "mental
disease or defect" because it fits within the statutory exclusion for abnormalities
"manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct." ORS
161.295(2); OAR 859-010-0005(6)(a). A plain reading of that exclusion demonstrates
that it should not apply to petitioner's condition. Alcohol abuse is diagnosed on the basis
of a patient's maladaptive use of alcohol. DSM-IV at 182. While such excessive drinking
by an adult is clearly unhealthy, it is neither per se criminal nor invariably antisocial.
Even were we to conclude that maladaptive alcohol consumption is
inherently criminal or antisocial to some degree, petitioner's condition still would not fit
within the exclusion. The exclusion is applicable only if a particular abnormality is
"evidenced solely by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct." Osborn v.
PSRB, 325 Or 135, 148, 934 P2d 391 (1997) (emphasis in original). Osborn involved a
diagnosis of pedophilia. The court, while noting that pedophilia was both criminal and
antisocial, emphasized that the disorder also has attributes of fantasy and "sexual arousal
that is not a normal part of sexual activity." Id. at 149. Accordingly, because pedophilia
"has mental and psychological features" according to the DSM, the court found that it did
not fit within the exclusion. Id. at 149-50 (emphasis in original).
The same is true of petitioner's condition. While alcohol abuse certainly
may be accompanied by antisocial and unlawful conduct, it, like pedophilia, also has
mental and psychological features. For example, one feature of the disorder is that
individuals "may continue to consume alcohol despite the knowledge that continued
consumption poses significant social or interpersonal problems for them * * *." DSM-IV
at 196. That feature is certainly present in petitioner's case; he testified that he repeatedly
has tried to stop drinking and that his drinking had caused the deterioration of his
marriage and other aspects of his life. Continuation of a behavior in the face of
knowledge of the harmful effects of that behavior is at least partly a mental or
psychological difficulty. Because that difficulty is an aspect of petitioner's condition, his
condition is not "manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct"
and is not excluded from the definition of "mental disease or defect" on that basis.
In sum, we conclude that alcohol abuse does not fall within either of the
statutory exclusions in ORS 161.295(2). The board did not err in finding that alcohol
abuse is a "mental disease or defect."
Petitioner also asserts that PSRB erred because its decision, that petitioner
suffers from a mental disease or defect, is not supported by substantial evidence. The
basis of that argument is Dr. Russell's testimony that, in his opinion, alcohol abuse is not
a mental disease or defect. Because no witness testified to the contrary, petitioner argues,
the board's rejection of that opinion was without evidentiary support.
Petitioner's argument is not well taken. The board's central factual
conclusion, that petitioner suffers from alcohol abuse, clearly was supported by
substantial evidence in the form of Dr. Russell's uncontradicted testimony and several
exhibits. See, e.g., Garcia v. Boise Cascade Corp., 309 Or 292, 295, 787 P2d 884 (1990)
("substantial evidence supports a finding when the record, viewed as a whole, permits a
reasonable person to make the finding"). It is such factual conclusions that we review for
substantial evidence. ORS 183.482(8)(c). Statutory interpretations, on the other hand,
are legal conclusions. As such, they are reviewed for errors of law. ORS 183.482(8)(a).
PSRB is entitled to disregard witnesses' interpretations of statutory terms and rely on the
DSM-IV, its own expertise or any other source in deciding whether a particular condition
is a mental disease or defect, so long as its conclusion is consistent with the legislature's
intent and its own rules.
Affirmed.
DE MUNIZ, J., concurring.
The majority holds that "alcohol abuse" is a mental disease for purposes of
PSRB jurisdiction and that there is substantial evidence that petitioner suffers from
alcohol abuse. The dissent concludes to the contrary on the basis of persuasive legislative
history that the legislature did not intend the definition of mental disease in ORS 161.295
and the PSRB statutes to include alcohol abuse.(5) Although I agree with the dissent's
conclusion as to the legislature's intent, I write separately because I would not permit
petitioner to argue at the PSRB hearing that his alcohol abuse is not a mental disease.
In Hampton Tree Farms, Inc. v. Jewett, 320 Or 599, 609-10, 892 P2d 683
(1995), the Supreme Court described the concept of "judicial estoppel" as a common law
equitable principle designed "'to protect the judiciary, as an institution, from the
perversion of judicial machinery.'" Id. at 609 (quoting Edwards v. Aetna Life Ins. Co.,
690 F2d 595, 599 (6th Cir 1982)). The court indicated that the doctrine may be invoked
to "preclude a party from assuming a position in a judicial proceeding that is inconsistent
with the position that the same party has successfully asserted in a different judicial
proceeding." Id. Although the state has not sought to rely on judicial estoppel to
preclude petitioner's argument here, I believe it is incumbent on this court to give notice
that petitioner's blatant attempt at manipulation of the judicial process violates the
principle of judicial estoppel.
Petitioner is an alcoholic. While at a DMV office in Portland, petitioner
stabbed a bystander with a pocket knife inflicting serious injuries. Petitioner told the
police and various medical doctors and treatment providers that he stabbed the victim
because he believed the victim was member of a gang that was plotting his murder and
had pursued him to the DMV office. At trial on the charges of attempted murder and
assault in the first degree, petitioner sought to avoid criminal responsibility for his act by
claiming that at the time he stabbed the victim he was suffering from alcohol-induced
delusions that constituted a mental disease or defect under ORS 161.295.(6) The trial court
accepted petitioner's mental disease defense, entered a judgment of guilty except for
insanity, and placed petitioner under the jurisdiction of the PSRB for a period of 40 years.
However, less than a year after the judgment was entered petitioner sought his discharge
from PSRB jurisdiction.
At the hearing before the PSRB, petitioner claimed that his alcohol abuse is
not a mental disease but a personality disorder or an abnormality manifested only by
repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct, and, therefore, excluded from the
definition of mental disease under ORS 161.295(7)--the very statute petitioner relied on
initially to avoid responsibility for his criminal act nine months earlier. Petitioner, thus,
originally claimed that his alcohol abuse was a mental disease and used it as a shield to
avoid criminal responsibility. Now, in order to gain his freedom, he takes the exact
opposite approach, arguing that his alcohol abuse is not a mental disease. As noted
above, judicial estoppel is intended to preclude a party from assuming a position in one
judicial proceeding that is inconsistent with the position the same party successfully
asserted in a different judicial proceeding. I would hold, on the basis of judicial estoppel,
that petitioner's reliance at trial on the defense that his alcohol-induced delusions
constituted a mental disease under ORS 161.295 precludes him from now arguing that his
alcohol abuse is not a mental disease under ORS 161.295.
Petitioner's only challenge to the evidence is that there is no evidence of a
mental disease.(8) As to that argument, there is substantial evidence to support the PSRB's
finding of alcohol abuse. Consequently, I would affirm the PSRB's order.
Armstrong and Wollheim, JJ, join in this concurrence.
LANDAU, J., dissenting.
The majority holds that, as used in ORS 161.341(4), the term "mental
disease or defect" includes the diagnosis "alcohol abuse," even though it is clear beyond
debate that the Legislative Assembly that enacted the statute and its related provisions
intended quite the contrary. The majority justifies its conclusion by resorting to the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed 1994) (DSM-IV), which
defines alcohol abuse as a mental disorder. Thus, the majority ignores what the
legislature actually intended in favor of a professional reference work that was not
published until more than a decade after the statute was enacted into law. Such reasoning
cannot be squared with any reasonable notion of legislative intent generally nor with the
analytical framework for ascertaining legislative intent described in PGE v. Bureau of
Labor and Industries, 317 Or 606, 610-12, 859 P2d 1143 (1993), particularly.
To ascertain the intended meaning of the term "mental disease or defect,"
we are required to examine the text of the statute in its context. Id. at 610-11. If analysis
of the text in context does not clearly reveal the intended meaning of the term--that is, if
it remains reasonably susceptible of more than one meaning--then we must examine the
legislative history and other interpretive aids. Id. at 611-12.
ORS 161.341(4) does not define the term "mental disease or defect." Its
meaning certainly is not intuitively obvious. See Webster's Third New Int'l Dictionary
1168, 1411 (unabridged ed 1976) (using "mental disorder," "mental disease" and
"insanity" as interchangeable terms). From the term alone, it is impossible to determine
whether the legislature intended alcohol abuse to be considered a "mental disease or
defect" within the meaning of the statute.
The context of the statute includes other related statutes. Jones v. General
Motors Corp., 325 Or 404, 411, 939 P2d 608 (1997). ORS 161.295, relating to criminal
responsibility, is such a statute. It defines the term "mental disease or defect" specifically
to exclude "any abnormality constituting solely a personality disorder." ORS 161.295(2).
Unfortunately, the statute does not define "personality disorder." In particular, it sheds
no light on whether the legislature intended alcohol abuse to be considered a "personality
disorder" and thus not a "mental disease or defect" within the meaning of the statute.
Prior judicial construction of the relevant statutes also must be considered
at the first level of analysis. Michels v. Hodges, 326 Or 538, 544, 956 P2d 184 (1998).
Especially pertinent in that regard is the Supreme Court's decision in Mueller v. PSRB,
325 Or 332, 937 P2d 1028 (1997). In that case, the court addressed whether the
diagnosis "organic personality disorder" constitutes a "mental disease or defect" within
the meaning of ORS 161.341(4)(a) and ORS 161.295(1). The court began by assuming
that the legislature intended that the version of the DSM in effect at the time of the
enactment of the statute may be referred to "for guidance in cases involving individuals
with mental diseases or defects." Mueller, 325 Or at 339. Apparently, the court
examined the legislative history; I know of no other way that the court could have arrived
at that conclusion.(9) The court then disposed of the case on the basis of the definitions in
the DSM-III, which was the version in existence at the time the legislature enacted ORS
161.295(1). Id. at 342-43.
I do not read Mueller to hold broadly that, regardless of what the legislature
actually may have intended, what constitutes a "mental disease or defect" within the
meaning of the statute always is determined by reference to the DSM in effect at the time
of enactment and that recourse to the legislative history is inappropriate. The court did
not say that. The court said that the DSM may be referred to for "guidance." Moreover,
it is apparent that the court itself looked to the legislative history in Mueller.
Therefore, because it remains unclear whether the legislature intended
alcohol abuse to be considered a "personality disorder" within the meaning of ORS
161.295(1), it is necessary to examine the legislative history. That history shows that the
legislature considered the very question at hand and enacted the bill that became ORS
161.295(1) with the stated intention that the term "personality disorder" include alcohol
abuse, that is, that alcohol abuse not be considered a "mental disease or defect."
ORS 161.295 originated as House Bill 2075 (HB 2075) in the 1983
legislature. An interim legislative committee drafted the bill to address public concern
over the scope of the so-called "insanity defense" in criminal cases. In its original
version, the bill did not exclude "personality disorders" from the term "mental disease or
defect." At an introductory hearing on the bill, Felicia Gniewosz, the Executive Director
of the Psychiatric Security Review Board (Board) submitted written testimony stating the
Board's support for the bill and its suggestions for strengthening it. She specifically
suggested:
"The legislature should take a position to either include or exclude
'personality disorders' from the definition [of mental disease or defect]. It
should be noted that personality disorders include the following diagnoses:
antisocial, inadequate, passive-aggressive, sexual conduct disorders, drug
dependent, alcohol dependent and paranoid."
Testimony, House Committee on Judiciary, HB 2075, April 27, 1983, Ex D at 2.
During the same hearing, Judy Snyder, the Chair of the Board, similarly
testified that the Board supported the exclusion of personality disorders from the
definition of "mental disease or defect" and that the term personality disorder includes
child molestation and other sex offenses, as well as persons "suffering from a drug-induced syndrome." Testimony, House Committee on Judiciary, HB 2075, April 27,
1983, Tape 270, side A at 108. Board chair Snyder added as an example of a personality
disorder,
"people who have an alcohol problem and who maybe stabbed someone
while they were in an alcoholic stupor and they're put under our
jurisdiction. * * * The problem the Board has is that kind of a person can
be very dangerous if they drink alcohol but the doctors will testify that's not
a mental illness, they don't have a mental illness[.]"
Id. at Tape 269, Side B at 112.
At a later hearing on the bill, the subject of excluding personality disorders
from the definition of "mental disease or defect" again arose. Following a discussion of
the difficulties of defining terms, Representative Hill questioned whether the
distinguishing characteristic of a personality disorder is the individual's self control. The
Executive Director of the Board replied that some individuals can control their disorders,
while others cannot. She explained that "the perfect example would be that one of the
personality disorders would be somebody that's alcohol or drug dependent." Testimony,
House Committee on Judiciary, HB 2075, May 13, 1983, Tape 324, Side A at 200. At
that point, Representative Courtney, a member of the legislative interim task force that
drafted the bill, asked Jeffrey Rogers, the chair of the task force, what language could
accomplish the proposed exclusion of personality disorder. Rogers proposed what is in
substance the current law. The amendment was adopted without objection. Testimony,
House Committee on Judiciary, HB 2075, May 13, 1983, Tape 324, Side A at 302.
The committee ultimately approved the bill with the exclusion amendment.
In the staff measure analysis, legal counsel for the committee summarized the effect of
the bill in the following terms:
"The bill as amended further limits the scope of mental diseases or
defects for which a person may be found, under present law, 'not
responsible.' Existing law excludes abnormalities manifested only by
repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct. The bill would exclude,
in addition, any abnormality which constitutes solely a personality
disorder, which includes such diagnoses as sexual conduct disorders, drug
dependent and alcohol dependent."
Staff Measure Analysis, House Committee on Judiciary, HB 2075, 1983.
In the floor debates in the House, the floor manager, Representative
Courtney, explained that the bill contained a "personality exclusion," which
accomplished a narrowing of the definition of mental disease or defect. Quoting directly
from the letter from Gniewosz to the House Judiciary Committee, Courtney explained:
"Right now if a person has what is considered a personality disorder,
by that I mean what they call 'anti-social, inadequate, passive-aggressive,
sexual conduct disorders, drug dependent, alcohol dependent, or paranoid,'
if they fit into that personality disorder category they're able to claim that
they have a mental disease or defect. We now no longer, with this piece of
legislation, will allow an individual to say that I have a mental disease or
defect because I have a personality disorder."
House Floor Debate, HB 2075, June 16, 1983, Reel 19, Track I at 218.
The bill then was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Representative Courtney introduced the bill to the committee, explaining that it "would
remove personality disorders as a category that could be relied upon for use of the
insanity plea." Testimony, Senate Committee on Judiciary, HB 2075, June 29, 1983,
Tape 234, Side A at 067. He described people with personality disorders as "anti-social,
inadequate, passive, aggressive, sexual conduct disorders, drug dependent, alcohol
dependent, paranoid, etc." Id. At the same hearing, task force chair Rogers testified. He
explained to the committee the findings of a study that he and two professors from the
Oregon Health Sciences University recently had completed concerning the insanity
defense in Oregon over a five-year period. That report explicitly categorized alcohol and
drug dependency as personality disorders. Senate Judiciary Committee, HB 2075, June
29, 1983, Unmarked Exhibit ("Oregon's New Insanity Defense System: A Review of the
First Five Years--1978-1982") at 14.
The Senate committee amended the bill to delete the exclusion of
personality disorders, apparently because of concern that the term was too difficult to
define. The Senate approved the bill as amended.
The deletion of the exclusion was the first topic of debate in the Conference
Committee. Representative Courtney explained that he was satisfied by testimony from
the Board and from Rogers that the term "personality disorder" has a meaning in the
profession. In his explanation, Courtney explicitly referred to the Rogers report and its
list of diagnoses--including drug and alcohol dependency--that qualified as personality
disorders. Tape Recording, Conference Committee, HB 2075, July 13, 1983, Tape 550,
Side A at 002. The Conference Committee ultimately agreed to restore the personality
disorder exclusion. The staff measure analysis, prepared by House Committee Counsel,
explained that, as amended, the bill "would exclude * * * any abnormality which
constitutes solely a personality disorder, which includes such diagnoses as sexual conduct
disorders, drug dependent and alcohol dependent." Staff Measure Analysis, House
Committee, HB 2075, 1983. The bill as amended by the Conference Committee was
approved by both houses and was signed into law.
Legislative history frequently can be sparse, equivocal and sketchy. See
Errand v. Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, Inc., 320 Or 509, 539 n 4, 888 P2d 544 (1995)
(Graber, J., dissenting) (reliance on statements of two witnesses and two legislators
"fraught with the potential for misconstruction"). That is not the case here. Indeed, the
Supreme Court has relied on much less. See, e.g., Zidell Marine Corp. v. West Painting,
Inc., 322 Or 347, 357-59, 906 P2d 809 (1995) (relying on statement of single witness).
In this case, the precise issue arose in both houses and was the subject of testimony by
experts, agency officials and legislators. Throughout the enactment process those
individuals consistently referred to drug and alcohol dependency as examples of the
personality disorders that are excluded from the statutory term "mental disease or defect."
The examples were repeated in floor debates in the House by the manager of the bill.
And the examples were further repeated in the staff measure analysis of the Conference
Committee.
In short, there can be no question that the legislature intended alcohol
dependency to be a "personality disorder" within the meaning of ORS 161.295(1) and
thus not a "mental disease or defect" within the meaning of ORS 161.295(1) or ORS
161.341(4)(a).
The majority does not apply the interpretive analysis required by PGE in
assigning a meaning to the terms "personality disorder" and "mental disease or defect."
Instead, the majority reasons that, although the terms are not defined by statute, they are
defined by administrative rule, and the administrative rule expressly incorporates the
provisions of the DSM-IV. That approach, however, is inconsistent with PGE and with
basic principles of administrative law.
Administrative agencies may not, by rule, "amend, alter, enlarge or limit the
terms of a statute." Cook v. Workers' Compensation Department, 306 Or 134, 138, 758
P2d 854 (1988). Agency rules always are subordinate to judicial ascertainment of the
intended meaning of statutory terms, at least unless the rules define terms that "express
non-completed legislation which the agency is given delegated authority to complete."
Springfield Education Assn. v. School Dist., 290 Or 217, 228, 621 P2d 547 (1980). No
party to this case has suggested that the statutory terms at issue in this case are delegative.
And, in any event, the legislative history clearly demonstrates that the legislature's
intentions were to the contrary: The legislature had a specific list of diagnoses in mind
when it enacted what is now ORS 161.295(1). Thus, the administrative rule, promulgated
long after enactment, does not establish what the legislature intended the statute to mean.
The majority refers to the Supreme Court's decision in Mueller for support.
In Mueller, however, the court addressed a different issue and said only that the version
of the DSM in effect at the time of enactment may be referred to for "guidance," because
it was apparent that the legislature generally relied on that reference work with respect to
the terms at issue. The court did not address the issue raised in this case--namely, that the
legislature did not in fact rely on the then-current version of the DSM with respect to the
proper classification of alcohol dependency--and the court did not preclude examination
of the statute and its enactment history to resolve that issue.(10)
In this case, the Board accepted expert testimony that petitioner suffers
from alcohol dependency. The Board concluded that the diagnosis constitutes a mental
disease or defect, not a personality disorder, because the diagnosis is so categorized in the
DSM-IV. In my view, the Board erred. The legislature intended that alcohol dependency
be regarded as a personality disorder, not a mental disease or defect. Therefore, I would
reverse the Board's order and remand for reconsideration. From the majority's decision to
the contrary, I respectfully dissent.
Warren, J., joins in this dissent.
1. ORS 161.341(4) provides:
"Any person who has been committed to a state hospital designated
by the Mental Health and Developmental Disability Services Division for
custody, care and treatment or another person acting on the person's behalf
may apply to the board for an order of discharge or conditional release upon
the grounds:
"(a) That the person is no longer affected by mental disease or
defect;
"(b) If so affected, that the person no longer presents a substantial
danger to others; or
"(c) That the person continues to be affected by a mental disease or
defect and would continue to be a danger to others without treatment, but
that the person can be adequately controlled and given proper care and
treatment if placed on conditional release."
An applicant for discharge or conditional release under ORS 161.341(4) bears the burden
of proving fitness for discharge or release by a preponderance of the evidence. ORS
161.341(5).
Return to previous location.
2. The DSM-IV is a reference manual published by the American Psychiatric
Association. The manual categorizes mental disorders on a multiaxial system; Axis I is
comprised of clinical disorders, Axis II of personality disorders and mental retardation,
Axis III of general medical conditions, Axis IV of psychosocial and environmental
problems and Axis V of the global assessment of functioning.
The dissent takes us to task for referring to the DSM-IV, because the
Supreme Court in Mueller v. PSRB, 325 Or 332, 937 P2d 1028 (1997), "countenanced
reliance on the version on which the legislature relied only," the DSM-III. ___Or App at
___ (dissenting slip opinion at 10 n 2). However, in Osborn v. PSRB, 325 Or 135, 934
P2d 391 (1997), the Court explained that the basis for its focus on the DSM-III was not
the legislature's use of that manual in 1983, but PSRB's use of the manual when it
promulgated the relevant administrative rules in 1987:
"The 'current' DSM under OAR 859-10-005(5) and (6) (1987) is the DSM-III, because that is the edition that was in effect at the time that the PSRB
adopted the rule." Osborn, 325 Or at 147 (emphasis added).
Thus, while we agree with the dissent that the Supreme Court focused on the DSM-III in
cases like Mueller and Osborn, we disagree with the dissent's view of why the court did
so. Osborn directs us to look at the version of the DSM specified in the current version
of the relevant administrative rules, in this case the DSM-IV.
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3. Those exclusions are mirrored in the board's rules at OAR 859-010-0005(6)(a) and (b):
"(a) The term 'mental disease or defect' does not include any
abnormality manifested solely by repeated or [sic] criminal or otherwise
antisocial conduct;
"(b) For offenses committed on or after January 1, 1984, the term
'mental disease or defect' does not include any abnormality constituting
solely a personality disorder."
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4. We respectfully disagree with the dissent's contention that this case must be
resolved by resort to legislative history. We consider ourselves bound by the four 1997
Oregon Supreme Court cases that addressed the question of whether particular diagnoses
constituted mental diseases or defects under ORS 161.341(4)(a). Mueller, 325 Or 332
(organic personality disorder); Menzl v. PSRB, 325 Or 159, 934 P2d 431 (1997)
(polysubstance abuse); Rios v. PSRB, 325 Or 151, 934 P2d 399 (1997) (pedophilia);
Osborn, 325 Or 135 (pedophilia). In each case, the court stated that the resolution of that
question depended on the description of the condition in the version of the DSM to which
the PSRB rules referred. Mueller, 325 Or at 339; Menzl, 325 Or at 165; Rios, 325 Or at
157-58; Osborn, 325 Or at 143-47. Further, the court in each case resolved the issue on
the first level of analysis from PGE v. Bureau of Labor and Industries, 317 Or 606, 610-11, 859 P2d 1143 (1993)--text and context--without reaching the second level, legislative
history. Taken together or individually, Mueller, Menzl, Rios and Osborn lay out the
Supreme Court's analytical framework for addressing the question in this case. We are
bound by those cases and the analytical framework they embody. Accordingly, we must
respectfully decline the dissent's invitation to resolve this statutory question at the second
level of PGE analysis, when the Supreme Court has four times resolved it at the first
level.
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5. Although not mentioned by either the majority or the dissent, it is interesting to
note that ORS 161.125(1) provides, in part, that voluntary intoxication is not a defense to a
criminal charge. In the light of that statute, it is difficult to understand how alcohol-induced
delusions could legitimately constitute a mental disease defense.
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6. From the record, it is unclear whether petitioner's delusions were the result of
severe alcohol intoxication or the withdrawal from alcohol. In either event, it is fair to say that
petitioner's delusions about the innocent stranger he stabbed were alcohol induced.
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7. ORS 161.295(2) provides, in relevant part, that the terms "mental disease or defect" do not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct, nor do they include any abnormality constituting solely a personality disorder.
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8. I note that petitioner does not contend that he no longer presents a substantial danger to others. ORS 161.346(1)(a).
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9. Consistent with that inference, the court cited in support of its conclusion State v. Huntley, 302 Or 418, 431-36, 730 P2d 1234 (1986), in which the court more explicitly relied on the legislative history in explaining the relationship of the DSM to the various determinations that are required under ORS chapter 161. Mueller, 325 Or at 339.
Thus--and contrary to the majority's reading of the decision--the court's opinion in Mueller did not rest on the text alone. The court did not examine the legislative history, it is true. But that is because it already had done so, explicitly and extensively, in prior cases.
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10. Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that the majority correctly reads Mueller, its reliance on the DSM-IV is inappropriate, because the DSM-IV was not published until long after the relevant statutes were enacted. The court countenanced reliance only on the version on which the legislature relied. Mueller, 325 Or at 339.
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