Matt Davis at the Portland Mercury has written an article parsing a decision by the Appellate Court reversing a decision by Lewis Lawrence, a civil commitment judge in Multnomah County.
You can read Matt’s article at Commitment Issues – Chasse Death Cited in Involuntary Detention
Lawrence is a respected pro tem judge who keeps his court with an engaging informal manner. In the early 1990s Judge Lawrence presided in tandem with Judge Roosevelt Robinson over the county’s drug court, so he’s very experienced.
You can also read Matt’s parallel article about his day in civil commitment court at In the Shadows – Dying Hard
We’ll be contacting Judge Lawrence as a prospective informant for Alien Boy. Although his ruling is overturned, he’s the first member of the judiciary who has taken judicial notice that it would be safer for a person with mental illness to be civilly committed than to run the risk of an “encounter” with the police. Lawrence specifically referenced what happened to James Chasse as sufficient evidence the woman in question was in danger.
Judge Lawrence, from my limited experience in his court, is a compassionate human, and perhaps in this decision compassion superseded the law. That’s why we have appeals. But we want to hear it from the judge himself.
