Maryland's high court says unreasonable delay in hospital transfers can violate incompetent defendants' due process rights
The case was brought by criminal defendants who had been found incompetent and dangerous and committed for treatment, but who were not admitted by the dates in their commitment orders. The court heard argument on March 31, 2017 and decided it on August 28. Although each plaintiff had been admitted by then, the court treated the issue as one capable of repetition yet evading review.
On the statutory claim, the court found that Maryland's commitment law sets no admission deadline and does not expressly let a trial court set one, so a missed date is a violation of the order but not of the statute. On the constitutional claim, it held that a defendant found incompetent and dangerous cannot be held in pretrial detention indefinitely unless the state is making efforts within a reasonable time to restore competence, and that an unreasonable delay in transferring such a defendant violates substantive due process under the Maryland Declaration of Rights.
The statutory gap the court identified was the one the General Assembly closed the following year, when it wrote a deadline into the law.
Source: Fredia Powell, et al. v. Maryland Department of Health, et al. — Maryland Judiciary, by Court of Appeals of Maryland (opinion by Judge McDonald)
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