At a preliminary hearing upon the charge of sexual psychopathy, the court may require the testimony of two duly licensed physicians, physician assistants, or psychiatric advanced registered nurse practitioners who have examined the defendant. If the court finds that there are reasonable grounds to believe the defendant is a sexual psychopath, the court shall order said defendant confined at the nearest state hospital for observation as to the existence of sexual psychopathy. Such observation shall be for a period of not to exceed ninety days. The defendant shall be detained in the county jail or other county facilities pending execution of such observation order by the department.
RCW 71.06.040
Preliminary hearing—Evidence—Detention in hospital for observation.
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case 102 Wash. 2d 466 - In Re the Personal Restraint of Knapp (1984)
Most recently applied in State v. King (October 1996)
2016 c 155 s 10; 2009 c 217 s 10; 1959 c 25 s 71.06.040
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.