Supreme Court of Ohio

The Supreme Court of Ohio enters the account as the court asked to review a ruling in Billy Milligan’s commitment litigation. Its recorded role is narrow but consequential: after an appellate court declined to return Milligan to Athens, his attorneys appealed that decision to the state’s highest court. The book gives no outcome for that appeal.

Role in the Milligan Litigation

The appeal arose amid legal disputes over Milligan’s diagnosis, dangerousness, and appropriate place of treatment. An Allen County court found him mentally ill, identified his condition as multiple personality, and concluded that he posed substantial risks to himself and others and required maximum-security hospitalization. It also directed that treatment be consistent with that diagnosis.

Appeal and Commitment Dispute

The appeals court later identified judicial error but determined that it was not prejudicial, relying on the Allen County hearing’s finding that Milligan was dangerous to himself and others. It disagreed with Judge Jay Flowers’s actions but did not order Milligan returned to Athens. Alan Goldsberry and Steve Thompson then appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Ohio.

A separate ruling described in the same account illustrates the continuing dispute over placement. On May 20, 1981, Judge Jay Flowers ordered continued treatment at the Dayton forensic hospital, citing a letter and testimony from Dr. David Caul in support of his decision. The account presents this ruling as part of the broader legal struggle over Milligan’s treatment, but does not say how it related procedurally to the appeal before the Supreme Court of Ohio.

Recorded Outcome

The book does not state whether the Supreme Court of Ohio heard the appeal, issued a ruling, or changed Milligan’s custody or treatment. Its documented significance is therefore procedural: it was the next court to which Milligan’s attorneys sought review after the appellate court left the earlier commitment decision in place.