Juarez v. Superior Court

Opinion

PUGLIA, P. J.

—Petitioner seeks a writ of mandate directing respondent superior court to order the commencement of conservatorship proceedings pursuant to Penal Code section 1370, subdivision (c)(2). (All statutory references to sections of an unspecified code are to the Penal Code.) That section is one of several setting forth procedures relating to the present sanity of a defendant charged with a crime. (§§ 1367-1375.5.) If under those procedures a criminal defendant is found incompetent to stand trial, and it is further found that his competency is not likely to be regained in “. . . the foreseeable future . . .” (Pen. Code, § 1370, subd. (b)(1)), he shall be returned to court for further proceedings, one purpose of which is to determine whether he is “gravely disabled as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (h) of section 5008 of the Welfare and Institutions Code . . . .” (§ 1370, subd. (c)(2).) If the court’s finding on that question is affirmative, it must order the initiation of conservatorship proceedings under the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5000 et seq.)

[930]

The only issue tendered in this proceeding is one of statutory interpretation, i.e., whether the described proceedings mandated by section 1370, subdivision (c)(2), expressly applicable to criminal defendants who have been found incompetent to stand trial, are also applicable to a defendant who has been tried for a felony, found not guilty by reason of insanity and whose commitment to a state hospital the People are seeking to extend under the authority of section 1026.5 beyond the maximum term of confinement which could have been imposed for the underlying felony. For the reasons which follow, we hold that present sanity proceedings apply only in the context of a criminal trial and not in a postjudgment proceeding under section 1026.5 to extend involuntary confinement for treatment. Accordingly, we shall deny the petition.

Petitioner was tried in 1978 for a violation of section 245, subdivision (a), assault with a deadly weapon. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and, as required by section 1026, committed to a state hospital for treatment. Section 1026.5, subdivision (a), limits the length of such a commitment to “. . . the longest term of imprisonment which could have been imposed for the offense . . . .” However, subdivision (b) of that section permits an extension of confinement for two years if, at the end of the maximum term, it is found that the person still “. . . represents a substantial danger of physical harm to others.”