The Allen County Courthouse is a courthouse in Lima, Ohio, that figures in the legal struggle over William Stanley Milligan’s placement and treatment. Its significance in the narrative lies in the contrast between courtroom procedure and the contested medical classifications that shaped Milligan’s confinement: there, attorneys challenged his transfer, and a judge reviewed the findings that ultimately required hospitalization consistent with his multiple-personality diagnosis.

Legal Challenges to the Transfer

A motion filed at the courthouse by Alan Goldsberry challenged the process by which Milligan had been transferred to a more restrictive facility. Goldsberry argued that Milligan had not been given an opportunity to consult with his attorney and had been moved without due process. A week later, at a courthouse hearing on Goldsberry’s request to return Milligan to Athens, the book’s writer saw him in handcuffs for the first time. The person present was The Teacher, who spoke with Goldsberry and the writer about his treatment at Lima State Hospital during the preceding week.

The Closed Review Hearing

On November 30, the courthouse hosted a commitment-review hearing in Courtroom 3. The old building’s courtroom could seat about fifty people, but most chairs were empty: the hearing was closed to the public and the media, although television cameras waited outside. The Teacher sat in handcuffs between his attorneys. The court admitted Dorothy Milligan, Del Moore, and the writer as observers; officials present included James O’Grady, representing the Franklin County prosecutor, a representative of the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, and an attorney observer for Southwest Community Mental Health Center.

Judge David R. Kinworthy reviewed the history of commitment hearings, beginning with Milligan’s December 4, 1978 finding of not guilty by reason of insanity and continuing through the subsequent recommitments. Kinworthy said the review was proceeding under the relevant provisions of the Ohio Revised Code. The court granted Assistant Attorney General David Belinky’s motion to separate witnesses, but denied attorney Steve Thompson’s request to return Milligan to Athens, which relied on alleged procedural defects in the transfer to Lima. With those preliminary motions resolved, the commitment-review hearings began.

Findings and Institutional Consequences

After taking the matter under advisement, Kinworthy issued findings on December 10, 1979. The court determined that Milligan was mentally ill, diagnosed his condition as multiple personality, and found that the illness substantially impaired his judgment, behavior, and capacity to recognize reality. It also found risks of physical harm to himself and others, including evidence of suicidal threats and recent violent behavior, and concluded that he would benefit from hospital treatment and required a maximum-security facility.

The order directed that Milligan be committed to Lima State Hospital for treatment consistent with the multiple-personality diagnosis. It also required that copies of the findings be sent to the hospital under seal. The courthouse thus marks a point at which diagnosis became more than a clinical description: in the review proceedings, it informed the court’s formal findings and the conditions of Milligan’s confinement.