00-3450 In the Matter of Protective Placement with Guardianship of Judith G.

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“Wis. Stat. § 55.06(11) ‘does not allow continued, multiple periods of detention upon repeated assurances that probable cause exists for the subject’s temporary, emergency detention.’ …

“Here, … there was no compliance with the “\’time limits required by [the] statute [here, § 55.06(11)(b)] … during the first proceeding for continued detention.’ Rather, a successive petition was filed here only to avoid the time limits. But § 55.06(11)(b) requires that ‘[u]pon detention … a preliminary hearing shall be held within 72 hours … to establish probable cause to believe the grounds for protective placement under sub. (2).’ Thus, the hearing must be held within seventy-two hours of the detention, not the filing of the petition. The filing of the successive petition was a nullity because Ms. G., by then, had been in custody for more than seventy-two hours without a probable-cause hearing.

“This comports with the legislature’s intent to limit significantly the time the subject of a protective-placement petition must spend in involuntary detention without court approval. … Timing the running of the seventy-two hours from either the filing of the initial petition or, as was done here, from the filing of a successive petition would either dilute or destroy the protection afforded by § 55.06(11)(b). [citation] Ms. G. did nothing to delay the probable-cause hearing beyond the required seventy-two hours; thus, her continued detention beyond that period was unlawful.”

Order for protective placement is reversed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

Dist I, Milwaukee County, McMahon, J., Fine, J.

Attorneys:

For Appellant: Carol Jean Wessels, Milwaukee

For Respondent: Janet F. Resnick, Milwaukee