In Re Gandolfo

We granted a hearing in this proceeding, after decision by the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, for the purpose of giving further study to the problems presented. After such review, we have concluded that the portion of Justice Blease’s opinion for the Court of Appeal, concurred in by Acting Presiding Justice Evans and Justice Reynoso, set forth below, properly resolves the matter and we adopt it as and for the opinion of this court; additional issues discussed by the Court of Appeal have been eliminated as unnecessary. The opinion (with appropriate deletions and additions as indicated) is as follows : †

This is an appeal from a final order of the Superior Court of San Joaquin County granting habeas corpus relief (Pen. Code, § 1507; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 50) and directing appellant James E. Heim, the Orange County Public Guardian, to place respondent Stephen J. Gandolfo, his conservatee, in a “suitable” facility less restrictive than Stockton State Hospital, in which he had been placed pursuant to provisions of the Lanterman-Petris-Short (EPS) Act. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5000 et seq.) We consider whether it was proper to grant the writ in the face of an…

I respectfully dissent for I cannot agree to the restrictions placed by the majority on the great writ of habeas corpus.

The Superior Court of San Joaquin County properly granted habeas corpus relief to Gandolfo. The court acted within the scope of its jurisdiction *901 when it found that Gandolfo was “not gravely disabled to the extent that he need be maintained in a locked institution” and ordered placement in a less restrictive facility. The wisdom of the court’s order is borne out by Gandolfo’s successful adaptation to life in a smaller, less restrictive facility closer to the homes of his mother and father.

Nevertheless, the majority deprive Gandolfo and other gravely disabled conservatees of their right to habeas corpus release from unnecessarily restrictive mental facilities. In doing so, the practical realities are ignored which favor allowing the superior court of the county in which the petitioner is confined to determine proper placement.

Instead, a 44-year-old guardianship case in which a ward was denied habeas corpus relief is cited as authority for this ruling. (Browne v. Superior Court (1940) 16 Cal.2d 593 [ 107 P.2d 1 , 13 A.L.R. 276 ].) In so doing, the…

THE COURT. [*]

We granted a hearing in this proceeding, after decision by the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, for the purpose of giving further study to the problems presented. After such review, we have concluded that the portion of Justice Blease's opinion for the Court of Appeal, concurred in by Acting Presiding Justice Evans and Justice Reynoso, set forth below, properly resolves the matter and we adopt it as and for the opinion of this court; additional issues discussed by the Court of Appeal have been eliminated as unnecessary. The opinion (with appropriate deletions and additions as indicated) is as follows: [†]

This is an appeal from a final order of the Superior Court of San Joaquin County granting habeas corpus relief (Pen. Code, § 1507; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 50) and directing appellant James E. Heim, the Orange County Public Guardian, to place respondent Stephen J. Gandolfo, his conservatee, in a "suitable" facility less restrictive than Stockton State Hospital, in which he had been placed pursuant to provisions of the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5000 et seq.) We consider whether it was proper to grant the writ in…