May 2005 News
Article containing quote from Professor Brian Shannon follows below. The article was taken from the Dallas Morning News:
Insanity cases intricate
Bill addresses problems when patients go free and spurn treatment
08:56 PM CDT on Saturday, May 14, 2005
By LEE HANCOCK / The Dallas Morning News
State law requires anyone charged with a crime involving bodily injury or threatening bodily injury to another and found not guilty by reason of insanity (or NGRI) to be kept in custody.
They can be held up to 30 days in a local jail until a judge holds an involuntary commitment hearing. At that point, they are transferred for evaluation to the maximum-security unit at North Texas State Hospital at Vernon. Doctors there then have 60 days to report back to the local court about the person's current mental state, said Brian Shannon, associate dean of the Texas Tech University law school.
Since September 2004, North Texas State Hospital's Vernon maximum security unit has housed 41 people - 27 men and 14 women - committed involuntarily after being found not guilty by reason of insanity, said hospital spokesman Jerry McLain.
If the hospital's five-member review board rules that the NGRI patient is a continuing danger, he or she will continue receiving treatment in the hospital's maximum-security unit, Mr. Shannon said. If the patient's mental state improves to the point that he is not considered "manifestly dangerous," he can be transferred to a less-restrictive unit closer to his home.
Before a NGRI patient can be released to the community, a legal hearing must be held. The judge who presided over the patient's criminal case, or a county judge with jurisdiction over mental health commitments, can decide to order continued hospitalization or release.
Current law requires state hospital officials to update the court at least once yearly so the patient can be ordered held for more treatment, moved to lower-level facilities or released back to their community.
Some Texas NGRI patients have been sent back to state hospitals after judges determined that community treatment programs would not guarantee that they would stay on their psychiatric medications.
Legislation that recently passed the state Senate should address those cases, as well as problems posed by mentally ill patients such as Kenneth Pierott who walk away from outpatient treatment and commit new crimes, Mr. Shannon said.
The bill, which is expected to pass the house, provides continued court oversight and mandatory outpatient treatment even after a person's return to his home community.
Instead of sending patients to under-funded community mental health programs, judges would be able to order follow-up care supervised by the Texas Commission on Mentally and Medically Impaired Inmates, a state agency with more than two decades of experience with mentally ill felons.
"If they're not complying ... the court can yank their outpatient status and send them back to inpatient treatment," he said.
(End of article)
On May 12th, the University approved a proposal to establish the Center for Water Law and Policy as a Center of Excellence at the Texas Tech University School of Law. This is the Law School's third Center of Excellence, joining the Center for BioDefense Law and Policy and the Center for Military Law and Policy. Read Dean Huffman's announcement letter...
Dean Huffman was interviewed by Jackie Northam on NPR Tuesday, May 10th. He spoke on the actions taken by Eric Saar, a former Army sergeant who served at Guantanamo Bay. Eric Saar is the co-author of a new book Inside the Wire, which looks at the treatment of Guantanamo Prisoners. To listen to the newscast, go to NPR.
University Provost William Marcy has approved the recommendation of the Law Faculty to appoint Professor Victoria Sutton as new Robert H. Bean Professor of Law effective September 1, 2005.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has appointed Texas Tech School of Law Dean Walter Huffman as one of seven members of an Independent Review Panel charged with reviewing relationships between legal elements in the Department of Defense. Creation of the panel was directed by Congress in the 2005 National Defense Authorization Act in response to concerns that ineffective relationships between Military Department legal elements contributed to less than optimal legal advice on high-profile national issues such as the Abu Ghraib Prison abuse cases in Iraq, the Guantanamo Bay prisoner detention cases, and other legal issues related to National Security.
The Independent Panel, Co-Chaired by former Secretary of the Air Force F. Whitten Peters and former Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh, Jr., will conduct a study and review of the relationships between the legal elements of each of the Military Departments and prepare a report setting forth the Panel's recommendations as to statutory, regulatory and policy changes that the panel considers to be desirable to improve the effectiveness of those relationships and to enhance the legal support provided to the the leadership of each Military Department and each of the Armed Forces in the Department of Defense.
Dean Huffman served as The Judge Advocate General of the Army from 1997 to 2001. He is the senior former military legal officer appointed to the panel.
Susan Saab Fortney, George H. Mahon Professor of Law, recently presented at the Fordham University School of Law Conference on Professional Challenges in Large Law Firms. The conference examined professional challenges facing large law firms as the nature of legal practice changes in the early 21st Century. Professor Fortney's topic was "Balancing Quality of Life and Delivery of Legal Services with the Demand of the Billable Hour." Micheal S. Greco, President-Elect of the American Bar Association delivered the keynote speech on the "Renaissance of Idealism" initiative for his ABA presidency.
Professor Camp has written extensively on the subject of the Collection Due Process (CDP) reforms Congress enacted in 1998. He has been invited to debate his ideas about abolishing CDP at the May ABA Tax Section Meeting in Washington D.C. On the panel with Professor Camp will be Professor Les Book of Villanova School of Law. Professor Book also has written debated Professor Camp on this subject in Tax Notes. Also appearing on the panel will be the National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olsen whose 831 Report to Congress in December 2004 listed CDP as the top problem facing the Internal Revenue Service.
Governor Rick Perry announced the appointment of Professor Brian Quinn as chief justice of the 7th Court of Appeals in Amarillo. He will fill an opening created by Gov. Perry's appointment of Chief Justice Phillip Johnson to the Texas Supreme Court. Quinn will serve a term until the next general election when he can opt to run for a full term. Read the full release here.
Dean Walter Huffman will deliver the keynote address for the Texas Tech Army ROTC spring commissioning ceremony. The ceremony will be held at 2 pm, May 13th, in the International Cultural Center. The newly commissioned officers will also be recognized at University graduation ceremonies the following day.
Professor Vickie Sutton has continued her service and mentorship to other Native Americans by serving as Faculty Co-Advisor for the Texas Tech University Native American Student Association during 2004-2005. Professor Sutton is also the Founding Chair of the Federal Indian Law Committee of the Federal Circuit Bar Association, and is Chair-Elect of the Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).
Professor Bryan T. Camp has been invited to speak on "Collection of Federal Tax Debt" at the ABA Tax Section's annual National Workshop for Low Income Tax Clinics in Washington D.C. The ABA Tax Section sponsors a yearly day-long workshop on tax issues of low income taxpayers, which is usually well-attended by representatives from the almost 130 clinics across the country operating on IRS grant funding. Professor Camp will be part of a 3 hour presentation entitled "Collection of Federal Tax Debt- Rules of the Road" on May 19, 2005, in Washington D.C.
Professor Spain Honored by Bar Foundation. The Texas Bar Foundation has announced that Professor Larry Spain has been selected to receive the Outstanding Law Review Article Award for 2005. The Award is presented for the most outstanding article published in any Texas law review the previous year. Professor Spain's winning article is: Collaborative Law: A Critical Reflection on Whether a Collaborative Orientation Can Be Ethically Incorporated into the Practice of Law, 56 BAYLOR L. REV. 141 (2004).
Governor Rick Perry chose the Texas Tech University School of Law courtroom as the forum to announce his appointment of Seventh Court of Appeals Chief Justice Philip Johnson as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. Justice Johnson, who had a distinguished career in private practice with the Lubbock firm of Crenshaw, Dupree and Milam before being elected to the Amarillo Court, graduated with honors from the Texas Tech School of Law in 1976. Justice Johnson is the first Texas Tech Law graduate to be named to the Supreme Court. Following the ceremony in Tech's Allison Courtroom, Dean Walt Huffman noted "this historic appointment is another important step forward for our relatively young law school, and I can think of no more accomplished jurist or finer person than Phil Johnson to receive this honor. This is a great day for Phil and his family, and this is a great day for Tech Law."