State justices: 12-member juries not necessary for involuntary commitments

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Courts that use six-member juries to hear cases involving involuntary commitments to mental treatment facilities are not violating the rights of those being committed, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The high court, in a majority opinion attributed to Justice Pat Crooks and two other concurring opinions from Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and Justice Annette Ziegler, asserted that 12-member juries – which are used in commitment cases involving sexually violent individuals – are not required in other commitment cases because the standard of care and detention is not as high.

The opinion centers around the case of a woman referred to as “Mary F.-R.” who, after a six-member jury unanimously made its determination that she was mentally ill and a danger to herself, was committed to the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division for no more than six months.

Mary, in previous proceedings, had requested a 12-member jury, though she did not raise any objections when the six-member jury was impaneled for her hearing. Her attorneys argued on appeal that the standard should be the same as those with sex offenders, which are referred to as Chapter 980 cases.

But the court disagreed, saying that while the cases “share some common characteristics,” there is an “increased liberty deprivation” in Chapter 980 cases, since going to a treatment facility is all but guaranteed once the jury makes that determination.

“Unlike a situation where protection for a fundamental liberty interest is interfered with impermissibly, having a six-person jury trial is not the ‘equivalent to having no jury trial at all,’” the majority opinion states. “There is no right to a 12-person jury in civil proceedings such as here.”

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