2005 Arizona Revised Statutes - Revised Statutes §36-535  Detention of proposed patient; time of hearing; released patient; intervention by division

A. If, upon the filing of a petition for court-ordered treatment, the patient is not then detained in an agency, the court shall order the detention of the patient in the agency which conducted the evaluation if the court determines that the patient is likely to present a danger to self or others before the conclusion of the hearing or is not likely to appear at the hearing on the petition if not detained. The court shall issue such orders as are necessary to provide for the apprehension, transportation and detention of the proposed patient. The court shall appoint counsel for the proposed patient if one has not been previously appointed.

B. The court shall either release the proposed patient or order the hearing to be held within six days after the petition is filed, unless the proposed patient, upon consultation with his attorney, determines that it would be in his best interest to request a continuance which may be for a maximum of thirty days.

C. If after reviewing the petition with its attached material and other evidence at hand the court finds that the patient is not, as a result of mental disorder, a danger to self or others, persistently or acutely disabled or gravely disabled, he shall be released.

D. The division, acting on behalf of the state hospital, may intervene as a party to the proceedings upon any petition for court-ordered treatment and may appear as a party at the hearing on the petition by filing a written notice of intervention with the clerk of the superior court in the county in which the petition was filed, at any time before either the original time set for hearing or the time to which the hearing is continued. The intervenor at the hearing may cross-examine any witnesses presented by other parties pursuant to section 36-539, may subpoena and present witnesses of its own, including physicians, and may present other evidence. The intervenor may, upon stipulation with all other parties or upon order of the court, cause physicians to personally conduct mental status examinations of the proposed patient and to testify as to their opinions concerning whether the proposed patient is, as a result of mental disorder, a danger to self or to others, is persistently or acutely disabled or is gravely disabled and as to whether the proposed patient requires treatment. This subsection applies in addition to all rules of evidence, the Arizona rules of civil procedure and the provisions of section 36-539.