In re M.K.S.
Annotate this CaseM.K.S., who had a long history of treatment for schizophrenia and other mental health illnesses, was regularly subject to community commitments and hospitalizations. In 2013, M.K.S. stipulated to a six-month community commitment. Before the commitment was set to expire, the State filed a renewed petition for commitment. After a commitment hearing, the district court found that M.K.S. posed a danger to herself based on her recent suicidal threats and that a commitment to the Montana State Hospital was necessary to guarantee her safety. The Supreme Court affirmed based on the plain error doctrine, holding that because of a professional person’s failure to file a statutorily-required written report in M.K.S.’s civil commitment proceeding, M.K.S.’s right of due process was implicated in the proceedings. However, M.K.S. failed to demonstrate that the absence of a written report substantially impacted this right in a manner that would leave unsettled the fundamental fairness of the proceedings, compromise the integrity of the judicial process, or create a manifest miscarriage of justice.
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