1368 Competence

Name: Jordan v. Superior Court
Case #: A174922
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 09/30/2026

After a defendant is found incompetent and placed on an outpatient treatment program, due process does not require a full evidentiary hearing for every PC 1608 revocation. The conditional release program petitioned to revoke defendant's outpatient status based on noncompliance, and the trial court transferred petitioner to the Department of State Hospitals without a full evidentiary hearing. Although now moot, the Court of Appeal addressed the issue as capable of repetition yet evading review. Applying the Mathews balancing test, the Court reasoned that written clinical reports reduce the risk of error and that the government’s interest in timely competency restoration,…

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Name: People v. Lightsey
Case #: S226760
Court: CA Supreme Court
Opinion Date: 08/17/2026

The trial court erred in determining that a retrospective evaluation of defendant’s competency to stand trial in 1994 was feasible. The prosecution did not meet its burden of showing that it remained possible to provide the defendant a competency trial comparable to the one the defendant should have been given but was denied. Under any standard of review, a retrospective evaluation was not feasible given the passage of 19 years, the unavailability of a key expert and other witnesses, as well as the undeveloped record which resulted from the error of permitting defendant to represent himself in the 1994 proceeding.

The…

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Name: People v. Parker
Case #: A172850
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 10/03/2025

In the absence of any explicit statutory authority or prohibition, tolling the maximum competency commitment period was an appropriate exercise of the trial court’s inherent equitable powers. Appellant was found incompetent in criminal proceedings in Fresno and Napa Counties; when the Department certified to both counties that competency had been restored, appellant was transferred to Fresno County. The delay in holding a competency restoration hearing in Napa County due to the pendency of criminal proceedings on separate charges in Fresno County constituted good cause for the Napa County Superior Court to toll the two-year maximum commitment period.…

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Name: Mendez v. Superior Court
Case #: G063164
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 12/23/2024

Trial court correctly refused to apply PC 1370.01 and dismiss misdemeanor complaint after defendant found incompetent to stand trial, as defendant was also charged with felonies in a separate case. PC 1367(b) states PC 1370.01 applies “to a person” charged “with a misdemeanor or misdemeanors only,” while PC 1370 applies “to a person” charged “with a felony.” PC 1370 therefore governed competency proceedings in both of the defendant’s cases.

The full opinion is available on the court’s website here:

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Name: People v. Velador (2024) 103 Cal.App.5th 687
Case #: E081372
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 07/11/2024

The trial court may grant mental health diversion after a doubt has been declared but before the issue of competency has been decided. Defendant was charged with misdemeanor battery on a peace officer. Defense counsel declared a doubt as to defendant's competency to stand trial. While the competency determination was pending, the trial court granted mental health diversion. The People filed an appeal to the appellate division of the superior court and the appellate division concluded that the trial court had jurisdiction to grant mental health diversion despite the criminal proceedings being suspended. The matter was affirmed following transfer to…

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Name: People v. Garcia (2024) 99 Cal.App.5th 1048
Case #: D081713
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 1
Opinion Date: 02/21/2024

Substantial evidence supported the superior court’s involuntary antipsychotic medication order. Based on the opinion of a licensed psychiatrist and a licensed psychologist, the trial court found that Garcia was mentally incompetent to stand trial and that she lacked the capacity to make decisions regarding the administration of antipsychotic medication. On appeal, Garcia alleged numerous errors with the court’s order authorizing the state hospital to involuntarily administer antipsychotic medication to her. Held: Affirmed. A trial court is required to permit involuntary administration of antipsychotic medication if it finds one of three sets of conditions to be true. (§ 1370(a)(2)(B)(i)(I)–(III) & (ii).) Here, Garcia…

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Name: Rodriguez v. Superior Court (2023) 15 Cal.5th 472
Case #: S272129
Court: CA Supreme Court
Opinion Date: 12/14/2023

For purposes of calculating the maximum commitment period for a defendant found incompetent to stand trial, the commitment continues past the filing of certificate of restoration and includes the time between such filing and the court’s decision whether to accept the certificate. Rodriguez was found incompetent to stand trial and committed to the Department of State Hospitals for treatment. The statutory scheme governing competency proceedings limits the term of commitment and, for individuals like Rodriguez charged with offenses that carry a maximum sentence exceeding two years, the commitment period is limited to two years. (See Pen. Code, § 1370(c)(1).) Following…

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Name: McKneely v. Superior Court (2023) 91 Cal.App.5th 1232
Case #: A166307
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 05/25/2023

Penal Code section 1372(c)(2), which requires a report from a mental health professional before a trial court may reject a certificate of restoration to competency, does not violate separation of powers. McKneely was found incompetent to stand trial and ordered committed to DSH. DSH filed a certificate of restoration to competency with the committing court, supported by a psychologist’s report. McKneely’s trial counsel urged the trial court to reject the certificate, based on counsel’s own declaration that she believed her client was not competent. The trial court concluded that it lacked authority to do so, because section 1372(c)(2) (effective 6/30/22)…

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Name: People v. Shkrabak (2023) 89 Cal.App.5th 943
Case #: C096266
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 03/28/2023

Under equal protection principles, defendant is entitled to custody credits for time spent in state hospital after the trial court found him incompetent to stand trial. On appeal, defendant requested a recalculation of his custody credit to include time spent in state hospital receiving competency treatment. Held: Remanded for recalculation of credits. Penal Code section 4019 provides that defendants confined in specific facilities and in various settings may earn conduct credit. In 2018, Senate Bill No. 1187 amended section 4019 to allow defendants receiving competency treatment in county jail treatment facilities, but not in state hospitals, to receive conduct credit.…

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Name: People v. Edwards (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 1259
Case #: C094784
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 03/07/2023

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 three IST defendants in a timely manner, and the defendants filed petitions for writs of habeas corpus. After an order to show cause, the trial court issued sanctions of $1,000 for each day past the trial court’s deadline that the defendants were not admitted, totaling $91,000. DSH appealed. Held: Remanded. Code of Civil Procedure section 177.5 gives the trial court…

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