A defendant is not entitled to presentence credits against a criminal action for time in custody when the time is the result of civil insanity commitment, in addition to confinement based on the new offense. Penal Code section 2900.5 requires that a defendant, confined in a hospital as mentally incompetent to stand trial, receive presentence credits against his ultimate sentence if the conduct that led to the conviction is the sole reason for the loss of liberty. (In re Rojas (1979) 23 Cal.3d 152; People v. Bruner (1995) 9 Cal.4th 1178.) In this case, Mr. Mendez was in the hospital on a civil insanity commitment when he was arrested for, and ultimately convicted of, assault on another patient. Because the confinement on the new offense was not the sole reason for his loss of liberty, he was not entitled to presentence custody credits for time in the hospital, irrespective of Penal Code section 1375.5 which provides for credits for time spent in a mental hospital against the term of imprisonment. (People v. Callahan (2006) 144 Cal.App.4th 678.)
Case Summaries