People v. Luther CA1/5

Filed 4/10/15 P. v. Luther CA1/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A141546 v. DAROLD LUTHER, (San Mateo County Super. Ct. No. SC016567A) Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Darold Luther appeals the trial court’s order extending for two years his civil commitment to a state mental facility.1 He contends that insufficient evidence supported the trial court’s determinations that he poses a substantial danger of physical harm to others if released and has serious difficulty controlling his dangerous behavior. We affirm the trial court’s order. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Luther was originally committed to a state mental facility in 1986 after being found not guilty by reason of insanity for discharging a firearm into an inhabited dwelling. (§ 246.) Since then, he has remained under state custody but was an outpatient during several periods. Each of these periods, including those in 1993, 1999, and 2000, ended with Luther’s outpatient status being revoked due to his “noncompliance with his

1 The order extending Luther’s civil commitment was issued under Penal Code section 1026.5 All statutory references are to the Penal Code.

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medications and psychiatric decompensation.” In 2011, Luther was once again on outpatient status, but he was returned to a hospital setting after he went absent without leave (AWOL). This appeal arises from two related petitions filed in late 2013 and early 2014. In September 2013, Luther filed an application for a restoration of sanity under section 1026.2. In February 2014, the San Mateo District Attorney filed a petition for an additional two-year extension of Luther’s civil commitment. Luther waived his right to a jury trial, and a bench trial was held in March 2014 on both petitions. At trial, Napa State Hospital staff psychiatrist James Eyerman, M.D., testified as an expert for the prosecution. Dr. Eyerman has treated Luther at the hospital for several years, and he prepared the hospital’s report recommending an extension of Luther’s civil commitment and opining that Luther did not meet the criteria for outpatient treatment. He testified that Luther has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and exhibits both manic and depressive symptoms. He explained that people with bipolar disorder “may indeed have a lack of what we would consider good judgment or lack of behavior as a reasonable person would. . . . [T]hey would be more likely to do rash or irrational things.” At the time of trial, Luther was assigned to a locked unit. Dr. Eyerman testified that before a patient at Napa State Hospital can be transferred from a locked unit to an open unit, and from there placed on an outpatient status, he or she must first be “stable” for six months to a year. Luther was assigned to the locked unit because in the months leading up to the trial (“around the holiday period”) his behavior was considered to be unstable. Dr. Eyerman testified that Luther’s behavior involved “periods of irritability and mood swing and that sometimes he actually gets somewhat threatening to the staff.” He testified that Luther had verbally threatened both nursing and auxiliary staff, and Dr. Eyerman perceived this behavior “as dangerous.” Around the holiday period, Luther told Dr. Eyerman, “You’re going to get yours.” In response to this regressive behavior, Luther’s medication was “titrated upward substantially.” Although Luther has not physically harmed any staff at Napa hospital, in 1993 he assaulted a staff person at a different inpatient facility.