[¶ 25] This Court reviews the district court's decision whether to use physical restraints during court proceedings for an abuse of discretion. In re Hoff, 2013 ND 68, ¶ 6, 830 N.W.2d 608. A court abuses its discretion when it acts in an arbitrary, unreasonable, or unconscionable manner, or when it misinterprets or misapplies the law, or when its decision is not the product of a rational mental process leading to a reasoned determination. Id.
[¶ 26] I noted in my dissent in Interest of Maedche that although this Court has held the commitment laws of our state are civil in nature, our sexual predator commitment laws have to be regarded as punitive, and we must provide the usual protections that are afforded to a criminal defendant. Maedche, 2010 ND 171, ¶¶ 29–30, 788 N.W.2d 331. Although the commitment of a sexually dangerous individual is a civil proceeding, the deprivation of liberty resulting from commitment is in many ways worse than the deprivation of liberty following a conviction in a criminal proceeding because the period of commitment is indefinite. Interest of Hoff, 2013 ND 68, ¶ 10, 830 N.W.2d 608. “[T]he fervor of a rightfully outraged public” to prevent sexually predatory crimes “cannot be allowed to overcome the necessary safeguards to individual liberty the law has established.” Interest of J.M., 2006 ND 96, ¶ 18, 713 N.W.2d 518.