The People v. St. Juste CA2/6

Filed 9/25/13 P. v. St. Juste CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B248047 (Super. Ct. No. F483134) Plaintiff and Respondent, (San Luis Obispo County)

v.

MICHAEL ST. JUSTE,

Defendant and Appellant.

Michael St. Juste appeals an order determining him to be a mentally disordered offender (MDO) and committing him to the Department of Mental Health for treatment. (Pen. Code, § 2962, et seq.)1 We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On April 9, 2005, St. Juste repeatedly stabbed a female tenant in his residential hotel because he believed that she placed chewing gum in the lock of his door. He later informed police officers that he "just lost it." St. Juste was convicted of attempted murder, and on November 18, 2005, the Los Angeles County superior court sentenced him to eight years in prison. On November 30, 2012, the Board of Parole Hearings determined that St. Juste was an MDO pursuant to the criteria of section 2962. As a condition of parole, it required him to accept treatment from the Department of Mental Health. On December

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated.

12, 2012, St. Juste filed a petition pursuant to section 2966, subdivision (b) to contest this decision. A court trial followed. Doctor Phylissa Kwartner, a forensic psychologist at Atascadero State Hospital, interviewed St. Juste, consulted with his treating doctors, and reviewed his medical and prison records. She opined that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, characterized by auditory and visual hallucinations, persecutory delusions, and disorganized thought processes. Kwartner also opined that St. Juste met the criteria of section 2962, subdivision (d)(1). In particular, Kwartner concluded that St. Juste's mental disorder was a cause of or an aggravating factor in the attempted murder of the hotel tenant. Kwartner referred to St. Juste's prison records indicating that he admitted suffering auditory hallucinations and depressed mood since 2004. St. Juste also overreacted to the victim's behavior "based on [her] smile" and "approached her as she was walking away from behind and stabbed her 14 times." St. Juste informed other MDO evaluators that "he was reliving an experience that happened to him as a child, where a neighbor assaulted his sister with a machete." Kwartner concluded that St. Juste's misperceptions of the victim's acts arose from his paranoid schizophrenia. In her review of St. Juste's prison records, Kwartner found that he had received treatment in the prison Enhanced Outpatient Program (EOP) for 90 days or more prior to his October 3, 2012, parole release date. (§ 2981 [defendant's prison records admissible as evidence of 90 days or more of treatment within the year prior to his parole or release].) Kwartner also noted that St. Juste refused prescribed antipsychotic medication during his imprisonment and accepted only small, ineffective doses of medication during his confinement at Atascadero State Hospital. Doctor Mamdeta Sahni, a psychologist and former employee at Atascadero State Hospital, evaluated St. Juste and opined that his mental disorder was not a cause of or aggravating factor in his underlying crime of attempted murder. Sahni reviewed St. Juste's medical and legal records and concluded there is no evidence that he experienced psychiatric symptoms at the time he committed the crime. She also opined