People Ex Rel. Keith v. Keith

This is an appeal from an order of the circuit court of Cook County which found the respondent, Glenn Keith, in need of mental treatment and ordered him hospitalized at the Elgin State Hospital. A petition which alleged that he was in need of mental treatment and requested his emergency admission to a mental hospital was filed by his son. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1965, chap. 91 1/2, pars. 8-1 through 8-6.) The public defender, representing the respondent, requested a jury trial. Section 8-6 of the Mental Health Code provided for a jury ""of six persons, at least one of whom shall be a physician if the allegation is one of need of mental treatment, * * *."" (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1965, chap. 91 1/2, par. 8-6; cf. 1967, chap. 91 1/2, par. 8-6.) The respondent's attorney moved to exclude the physician from the jury on the ground that the statutory requirement is unconstitutional. The motion was overruled. At the trial the assistant State's Attorney called the respondent, over objection, as an adverse witness. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1965, chap. 110, par. 60.) A psychiatrist who had examined him also testified, and the jury found that the respondent was in need of mental treatment. The court ordered him committed to the Elgin State Hospital. The respondent does not object to the statutory provision for a jury of six, but he asserts that the requirement that one of the six be a physician deprived him of the jury trial guaranteed by section 5 of article II of the constitution of Illinois, and also deprived him of the due process guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States. He also contends that the trial court erred in compelling him to testify over his objection.