1368 Competence

Sanctions were appropriate against the California Department of State Hospitals (DSH) because lack of hospital beds did not establish good cause or substantial justification for the delays in admitting defendants found incompetent to stand trial (IST). DSH failed to admit…

The trial court and departments providing services must follow Penal Code section 1370.1 in providing treatment to those found incompetent to stand trial due to a developmental disability. In 2017, a trial court found Medina incompetent to stand trial due…

When the trial court is confronted with circumstances that are inconsistent with assumptions on which defendant's competency findings were based, it has a duty to declare a doubt as to his competency. Defendant confessed to robbing a convenience store on…

Murder conviction reversed because trial court failed to reinstate competency proceedings despite evidence of defendant's worsened symptoms of mental illness, which prohibited him from assisting in his defense. Easter was charged with the murder of his wife. Prior to trial,…

Where a criminal defendant had been restored to competence through medication, evidence the defendant was no longer taking the medication and was exhibiting signs of incompetence required a new competency hearing. Prior to his trial for three murders and two…

After finding defendant competent to stand trial, trial court erred in not suspending proceedings during trial for further examination of defendant's competence based on her decompensated mental condition. Sims, a former attorney with longstanding mental illness, was charged with murdering…