State ex rel. D. W. v. Hensley

FINCH, Judge.

Separate petitions for a writ of habeas corpus and for declaratory judgment1 were filed in this court by D.W. and E.B. These petitions, filed pursuant to § 202.850,2 requested release from custody under previous commitments to the Department of Mental Health pursuant to which they had been placed at St. Joseph State Hospital No. 2. We ordered the two cases consolidated.

Except for dates and names, the petitions are identical. They allege that on January 10,1977, as to E.B. and on April 25,1977, as to D.W., an application for an order of involuntary hospitalization of a person who…