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20-47-209. Initial hearing — Failure to appear — Exceptions from appearance requirement.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-47-209. Initial hearing — Failure to appear — Exceptions from appearance requirement.
(a) If the person named in the original petition is not confined at the time that the petition is filed, the court may:
(1) Enter an ex parte order directing a law enforcement officer to serve the person with a copy of the petition together with a notice to appear for an initial hearing. The hearing shall be set by the court within three (3) days, excluding weekends and holidays, of the filing of the original petition. If the person is duly served and fails to appear, the court shall issue an order of detention; or
(2) Dismiss the petition.
(b) The person named in the original petition is not required to appear and may be removed from the presence of the court upon a finding by the court that the person is:
(1) By reason of physical infirmity unable to appear;
(2) That the person's appearance would be detrimental to his or her mental health, well-being, or treatment; or
(3) That his or her conduct before the court is so disruptive that the proceedings cannot reasonably continue with him or her present.
(c)(1) The petitioner shall appear before the circuit judge hearing the petition to substantiate the petition.
(2) The court shall make a determination based on clear and convincing evidence that there is probable cause to believe that the person has a mental illness, disease, or disorder and that one (1) of the criteria for involuntary admission applies to the person.
(3) If such a determination is made, the person shall be admitted for evaluation, and a hearing pursuant to § 20-47-214 shall be held within the period specified in § 20-47-205.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-209
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:20-47-209
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.20.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 4f277a056fb966c76ed34d92b8d63486fe2e84e30c79e7e8ada831804d97737a
Source location: content.xml paragraph 26860
Stored source content
20-47-209. Initial hearing — Failure to appear — Exceptions from appearance requirement.
(a) If the person named in the original petition is not confined at the time that the petition is filed, the court may:
(1) Enter an ex parte order directing a law enforcement officer to serve the person with a copy of the petition together with a notice to appear for an initial hearing. The hearing shall be set by the court within three (3) days, excluding weekends and holidays, of the filing of the original petition. If the person is duly served and fails to appear, the court shall issue an order of detention; or
(2) Dismiss the petition.
(b) The person named in the original petition is not required to appear and may be removed from the presence of the court upon a finding by the court that the person is:
(1) By reason of physical infirmity unable to appear;
(2) That the person's appearance would be detrimental to his or her mental health, well-being, or treatment; or
(3) That his or her conduct before the court is so disruptive that the proceedings cannot reasonably continue with him or her present.
(c)(1) The petitioner shall appear before the circuit judge hearing the petition to substantiate the petition.
(2) The court shall make a determination based on clear and convincing evidence that there is probable cause to believe that the person has a mental illness, disease, or disorder and that one (1) of the criteria for involuntary admission applies to the person.
(3) If such a determination is made, the person shall be admitted for evaluation, and a hearing pursuant to § 20-47-214 shall be held within the period specified in § 20-47-205.
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-47-205. Jurisdiction of circuit court.
(a) The circuit courts of this state shall have exclusive jurisdiction of the involuntary admission procedures initiated pursuant to this subchapter.
(b)(1) Within seven (7) days of the person's detention, excluding weekends and holidays, the court shall conduct the hearing as defined in § 20-47-214.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d) of this section, the hearing, as defined by §§ 20-47-214 and 20-47-215, shall be conducted by the same court, or by a judge designated on exchange, who heard the original petition and issued the appropriate order.
(3) The court shall ensure that the person sought to be involuntarily admitted is afforded all his or her rights as prescribed by this subchapter.
(4) The circuit judge, when conducting any hearing set out in this subchapter, may conduct the hearing within any county of the judge's judicial district.
(c) The hearings conducted pursuant to §§ 20-47-209, 20-47-214, and 20-47-215 may be held at inpatient programs of the state mental health system or a receiving facility or program where the person is detained.
(d) A circuit judge of the Sixth Judicial District sitting within the Sixth Judicial District may conduct involuntary commitment hearings prescribed by §§ 20-47-214 and 20-47-215 and initiated in other judicial districts of this state pursuant to §§ 20-47-207 and 20-47-209 provided that the person sought to be committed is detained within the boundaries of the Sixth Judicial District at the time of the hearing held pursuant to §§ 20-47-214 or 20-47-215. The Sixth Judicial District shall thus assume the mantle of other judicial districts and shall have the authority to enter treatment orders for other judicial districts in the hearings prescribed by §§ 20-4
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-205
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-205. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
20-47-214. Forty-five-day involuntary admission — Hearing.
(a)(1) Within the period specified in § 20-47-205, a hearing shall be held.
(2) The hearing must be conducted in public, open to the news media.
(3) All testimony must be taken under oath and preserved.
(4) All witnesses shall be subject to a penalty for perjury, and each witness who shall testify shall be instructed by the hearing officer as to the penalty for perjury before testifying.
(b)(1) Should any person be found guilty of giving false testimony that results in a person's wrongful involuntary admission, he or she shall be liable for civil damages and subject to incarceration for not less than thirty (30) days.
(2) The court shall make a determination at that time whether clear and convincing evidence has been presented that the person sought to be involuntarily admitted is of danger to himself or herself or to others as defined in § 20-47-207.
(3) If this burden of proof has been met, the court shall issue an order authorizing the hospital or receiving facility or program to detain the person for treatment for a maximum of forty-five (45) days.
(c) This section shall be construed to allow the person sought to be involuntarily admitted to request treatment under an alternative least restrictive appropriate setting.
(d) If a hearing pursuant to this section is not held within the period specified in § 20-47-205, the person shall be released.
(e) Upon filing of an order of commitment issued under subdivision (b)(3) of this section with a circuit clerk, the circuit clerk shall submit a copy of the order of commitment to the Arkansas Crime Information Center.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 20-47-214
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 20-47-214. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.