LINCOLN — The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law passed after a developmentally disabled man stabbed a 5-year-old boy in Lincoln.
The law allows the state to keep developmentally disabled people in custody if they are shown to pose a threat to others.
The ruling was the first to examine the constitutionality of the Developmental Disability Court-Ordered Custody Act, under which the state can order placement and services for people with developmental disabilities who are considered dangerous.
Friday’s ruling rejected arguments brought by a man, identified only as C.R., that the law had denied him due process.
The ruling upheld a 2009 decision by the Lancaster County District Court.
According to the high court ruling, C.R. had been charged with first-degree sexual assault in 2007. The court said he admitted committing a sexual act on a woman even though she had told him to stop.
But C.R. was found incompetent to stand trial and was sent to the Lincoln Regional Center, a state-run psychiatric hospital. He remained at the hospital for two years.
Eventually, the state asked the lower court to place him in custody under the developmental disability law.
The district court agreed, but C.R. appealed, arguing that the law should require proof of future harm and proof of a link between his developmental disability and the assault.
The Supreme Court rejected both arguments, citing previous rulings that upheld similar commitment laws for mentally ill people and sex offenders. It said procedures and standards of evidence in the law adequately protect people.
Jessica Milburn, the attorney for C.R., did not return a request for comment.
Jodi Fenner, developmental disabilities director for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, said C.R. and all the others whe have been court-ordered into custody under the law have been placed in community-based settings.
Placements are based on thorough psychological assessments and recommendations approved by the courts.
The law was passed after Roger Einspahr, who was living in a developmental disability group home in Lincoln, grabbed a boy off his bicycle and stabbed him. The boy recovered.
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402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
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