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Name: People v. O’Dell
Case #: C046576
Opinion Date: 02/03/2005
Citation: 126 Cal.App.4th 562
Summary

Appellant was committed to a state hospital for a maximum of three years after being found incompetent to stand trial pursuant to Penal Code section 1370. The court subsequently authorized the hospital to involuntarily administer antipsychotic medication to him. On appeal, appellant challenged the medication order, contending that there was not substantial evidence to support it. The appellate court agreed, and reversed the order. The court did not consider the facts and any special circumstances of the case, and the hospital never specified the condition it was proposing to treat or even the actual medication it was proposing to administer. Without this information, there was insufficient evidence to support the court’s conclusion that the administration of antipsychotic medication was likely to render appellant competent to stand trial.