Opinion
A179743
12-20-2023
In the Matter of H. R., a Person Alleged to have Mental Illness. v. H. R., Appellant. v. STATE OF OREGON, Respondent,
Joseph R. DeBin and Multnomah Defenders, Inc., fled the brief for appellant. Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General, and Inge D. Wells, Assistant Attorney General, fled the brief for respondent.
This is a nonprecedential memorandum opinion pursuant to ORAP 10.30 and may not be cited except as provided in ORAP 10.30(1).
Submitted November 6, 2023
Multnomah County Circuit Court 22CC05938; A179743 Monica M. Herranz, Judge pro tempore.
Joseph R. DeBin and Multnomah Defenders, Inc., fled the brief for appellant.
Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General, and Inge D. Wells, Assistant Attorney General, fled the brief for respondent.
Before Tookey, Presiding Judge, and Egan, Judge, and Kamins, Judge.
KAMINS, J.
Appellant appeals a judgment involuntarily committing her to the Oregon Health Authority for up to 180 days and prohibiting her from purchasing or possessing firearms. ORS 426.130. Absent de novo review, "we view the evidence, as supplemented and buttressed by permissible derivative inferences, in the light most favorable to the trial court's disposition and assess whether, when so viewed, the record was legally sufficient to permit that outcome." State v. M. J. K, 306 Or.App. 544, 545, 473 P.3d 1141 (2020) (internal quotation marks omitted). Because the record was legally sufficient to allow a rational factfinder to conclude that appellant suffered from a mental disorder that makes her a danger to herself, we affirm. ORS 426.005(1)(f)(A) (defining a "[p]erson with mental illness" as a person who, "because of a mental disorder," is "[d]angerous to self or others").
Because we conclude that the state carried its burden of establishing that appellant suffered from a mental disorder that makes her a danger to herself, we need not consider appellant's argument that the state failed to establish that she is unable to provide for her basic needs. See ORS 426.005(1)(f) ("'Person with mental illness' means a person who, because of a mental disorder, is one or more of the following: * * * Dangerous to self or others[;] * * * Unable to provide for basic personal needs[.]" (Emphasis added.)); State v. R. A., 209 Or.App. 647, 652, 149 P.3d 289 (2006).
The trial court concluded that appellant suffers from schizoaffective disorder which renders her dangerous to herself. The evidence in the record included testimony that appellant's disorientation caused her to run into traffic on multiple occasions, forcing cars to honk and swerve to avoid hitting her, and that she lacked insight into that behavior. That evidence was legally sufficient to permit a rational factfinder to conclude that appellant presented a danger to herself. See State v. W. B., 313 Or.App. 639, 640, 493 P.3d 575 (2021) (holding that an appellant who "repeatedly walked into moving traffic without looking, causing cars to stop abruptly to narrowly avoid hitting him, and * * * lacks insight into that behavior" presented a danger to himself); c.f. State v. S. R. J., 281 Or.App. 741, 752, 386 P.3d 99 (2016) (holding that an appellant stepping into the street and causing traffic to back up without being in the path of a car moving at high speed did not present a danger to self, but observing that "past near-misses" of walking into traffic can allow for inference of likelihood of future harm to self).
Affirmed.