Claiming lack of authority, judge defers action in open cases involving the mentally ill
July 31, 2015 - 6:20 pm
A Clark County District Court judge on Friday said she lacked the authority to hear dozens of motions to dismiss charges against mentally ill inmates now languishing in jail and sent the cases back to the courts where they originated for a decision on the matter.
The Clark County public defender's office disagreed, claiming District Judge Jennifer Togliatti, who hears competency cases, has the authority to hear the motions, which deal solely with competency issues.
But Togliatti said she is limited to determining a defendant's competency to stand trial.
About 31 motions were filed in July by the Clark County public defender's office on behalf of inmates who have been waiting at the Clark County Detention Center beyond the 14 days the state has to admit them to Lake's Crossing Center in Sparks. Lake's Crossing, the state's only maximum-security psychiatric facility that evaluates and provides treatment to restore offenders' competency, deals with chronic overcrowding issues. New patients can only be accepted as others are released.
Chief Judge David Barker understands the nature of these motions and considered the administrative order that outlines her duties, Togliatti said. He told her that it was not for her to decide.
"I do not have the authority under the chief judge's assignment to hear all motions to dismiss every single competency case," Togliatti said during the hearing.
The motions were prompted by Nevada's continued failure to transfer court-ordered inmates to Lake's Crossing in a timely manner. Under a 2014 federal lawsuit settlement, the state is supposed to provide treatment to offenders within 14 days of a court order.
On Sept. 1, the time frame will drop to seven days. The wait times for those involved in the motions range from 90 days to 150 days.
The motions sought to have all pending charges dismissed and all the detainees released from custody. The state is violating the constitutional rights of the inmates, claim the motions. The pending charges in question range from murder to battery and include gross misdemeanors and felonies.
Clark County Deputy Public Defender Christy Craig said the motions should have been heard in competency court.
"While we believe these are sustained motions, they are not sustained to the underlying criminal case," Craig said. "They reference and are completely and totally about competency issues that are squarely in this court because that's the court that is supposed to hear competency issues."
The administrative order Togliatti referenced indicates that on Nov. 16, 2005, the "District Court Criminal Judges agreed to send all competency matters to one judicial department ... as it as necessary to facilitate the administration of justice."
But it also authorizes the chief judge to "reassign cases from a department to another department as convenience or necessity requires."
It would be appropriate to transfer the motions to another department if they each involved legal matters related to the alleged crime, Craig said.
"Because this issue is squarely about competency, the competency process and the violations as a result of a failed competency process, I think the motions are properly in front of your honor," Craig said.
But instead, the cases were scheduled to be heard in their original jurisdictions throughout August.
Outside the court, Craig said the plight of the inmates involved is not the jail's or the county's fault.
"It's the state of Nevada's (fault) for not having the facility ready to go," she said.
The state has acknowledged that it's violating inmates' rights, and it developed a plan to fix the problem but it hasn't been fixed, Craig said she will continue to file motions when an inmate represented by her office hits the 14-day mark.
The state is working to assess inmates for competency as quickly as it can, said Chelsea Szklany, deputy administrator for clinical services at the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health. Stein Hospital, which will be a forensic unit at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital, will open between October and November.
"Our beds are full," Szklany said.
Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3843. Find her on Twitter: @YeseniaAmaro.