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Mental health loophole closed for violent offenders in Kentucky

Lexington Herald-Leader - 7/7/2021

Jul. 7—Gov. Andy Beshear ceremonially signed into law Wednesday a bipartisan bill that closes a loophole in state law that has prevented violent offenders deemed incompetent to stand trial from being involuntarily committed to a mental health facility.

WDRB first reported on the loophole in 2019, detailing the case of Louisville's Cane Madden, who had been accused of physically and sexually assaulting a woman earlier that year. He was deemed incompetent to stand trial by a judge and was briefly housed in a psychiatric facility before being released, not meeting the state's criteria at the time for involuntary hospitalization. A short time later, Madden was accused of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old and fracturing her head with a shovel.

By closing that loophole, commonwealth's attorneys in Kentucky can now involuntarily commit someone deemed a danger to themselves and not competent to stand trial to a residential psychiatric facility. Review hearings will be conducted under the new law, and an individual can be released only if they stop meeting criteria that allowed a prosecutor to involuntarily commit them in the first place.

"Even though they can't be tried, we have to protect the community," said Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, one of the sponsors of House Bill 310. "It doesn't only protect the community, it protects the individual because they're a harm to themselves."

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