People v. McCray
| Docket Number | A166084 |
| Decision Date | 22 December 2023 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JAMES MCCRAY, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Order Filed Date 1/22/24
Superior Court of California, County No. RM08389840 of Alameda Hon. Andrew A. Steckler
Keith Fox, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Noah P. Hill, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Eric J. Kohm, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
The court orders that the opinion filed in this appeal on December 22, 2023, be modified as follows:
1. On page 6, in the second paragraph, in the set of parenthetical citations that follow the second sentence in the paragraph delete the following language:
[ an LPS appeal for mootness but exercising discretion to address important issues likely to recur and evade review]
2. On page 7, in the sixth sentence in footnote 4, change "2018" to "2019" so the sentence reads:
Without deciding whether, against this backdrop, the 2019 canebrandishing incident justifies the finding made here that McCray is currently dangerous to others, suffice it to say that, as time goes by, the evidence supporting continued recommitment in future years will become increasingly attenuated in the absence of more robust proof tying McCray's mental illness to current dangerousness.
The modifications effect no change in the judgment.
James McCray has been committed to the State Department of State Hospitals (DSH) for a series of one-year terms more or less continuously since 2005 under the statutory scheme governing violent offenders with mental health disorders (OMHD's). (See Pen. Code, § 2960 et seq.).[1] He now appeals from a 2022 order recommitting him for another one-year term.
McCray argues we should reverse the recommitment order for three reasons: (1) contrary to the court's findings, there is insufficient evidence he represents a substantial danger of physical harm to others by reason of a severe mental health disorder; (2) the court erred in finding he voluntarily absented himself from his recommitment trial; and (3) prior to trial, the trial court failed to obtain from him a knowing and intelligent waiver of his right to a jury. The People argue that this appeal is moot, but on the merits disagree on each point.
While we agree that McCray's appeal must be dismissed as moot, under the exception to the mootness doctrine for important issues that recur on appeal yet evade review, we nonetheless address the trial court's failure to engage in a robust enough oral colloquy with McCray to establish that he knowingly and intelligently waived his right to a jury trial.
McCray, 73 years old at the time of his 2022 recommitment trial, suffers from schizophrenia. He was first hospitalized for this condition in the 1970s, and had a long history of auditory hallucinations; delusional beliefs; paranoia that others were trying to hurt or threaten him; tangential and disorganized speech and thinking; flattened affect, which manifested itself as a mismatch between his facial expression and what he was feeling; and lack of motivation, which included disinterest in attending treatment groups or meetings with his treatment team.
McCray was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 2004, and sentenced to prison. In 2005, he was found to be an OMHD, and as a condition of parole he was committed for treatment to DSH's predecessor agency, the State of California Department of Mental Health.[2] After being released on five different occasions to a conditional release program (CONREP) for outpatient treatment, he was rehospitalized each time for noncompliance with treatment. The throughline leading to all these rehospitalizations was failure to take medications. McCray was last rehospitalized in November 2019.
On June 29, 2022, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office moved to consolidate three pending petitions to extend McCray's OMHD commitment for an additional year. The three petitions covered extensions for 2020 to 2021, 2021 to 2022, and 2022 to 2023, respectively. The court granted the motion to consolidate.
McCray waived his right to a jury trial, and the trial court found the waiver to be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. The court then conducted a bench trial, which occurred over several days in July, August, and September of 2022. At the August session of trial, the court found that McCray had voluntarily absented himself from the proceedings.
In light of our disposition of this appeal, we need not describe in great detail the evidence presented at McCray's 2022 trial but will instead provide the following general summary.
There was evidence of only one incident involving possible violence by McCray. A CONREP clinical social worker testified that, in October 2019, he went to McCray's room to take him to a medical appointment. He entered the room and spoke to McCray, who was located between the social worker and the door of the room. The social worker described the ensuing interaction as follows:
When the social worker was asked about his perceptions of McCray's conduct during this incident, he said he took it as "a threat to [do] physical harm with the cane."
The social worker also testified to McCray's general pattern of uncooperativeness with treatment, which included He also "refus[ed] to participate in the group therapy sessions that we schedule and we have for him, . . . continu[ed] [to] insist[] that he was not mentally ill and did not need to be in the program, and on several occasion[s] h[e] refus[ed] to take medication, . . . [and] refus[ed] to get on the van to come in to get his shot."
A state hospital psychiatrist who had worked with McCray and was designated as an expert testified that McCray suffered from schizophrenia and resulting symptoms, such as hallucinations and disorganized behaviors and speech; that these symptoms were not in remission; that McCray had very poor insight into his mental illness and was unaware of his chronic symptoms; and that McCray did not meaningfully participate or engage in his treatment.
A state hospital clinical psychologist testified to conducting an evaluation of McCray in order to assess his risk of dangerousness. She pointed to McCray's "history of violent behavior"; opined that this behavior was of "high relevance" to his risk for future violence; and further opined that he had a history of problems with relationships and antisocial behavior that were of "moderate relevance" to his risk for future violence.
A state hospital forensic evaluation report prepared by a senior forensic psychologist in October 2021 concluded that McCray represented a substantial danger of physical harm to others by reason of a severe mental disorder that was not in remission.
The trial court found it was proven true beyond a reasonable doubt that McCray had a severe mental disorder; that the disorder was not in remission and could not be kept in remission without treatment; and that as a result of the disorder, McCray represented a substantial danger of physical harm to others under Penal Code section 2970. The court ordered him recommitted for a period of one year, ending on April 29, 2023.
McCray filed a timely notice of appeal.[3]
The People argue McCray's appeal is moot because the order from which he has appealed recommitted him for a term that expired in April 2023, and prior to the expiration of this recommitment order, the District Attorney filed a new recommitment petition. The record further indicates that McCray has since been recommitted for one more year.
The mootness problem presented here "frequently arises in this area of law given the short duration of conservatorships." (Eric B., supra, 12 Cal.5th at p. 1094, fn. 2.) The governing principles of justiciability are familiar ones. In general, it is a court's duty to decide"' "actual controversies by a judgment which can be carried into effect, and not to give opinions upon moot questions or abstract propositions, or to declare principles or rules of law which cannot affect the matter in issue in the case before it." '" (Eye Dog Foundation v. State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind (1967) 67 Cal.2d 536, 541.)
The application of these principles here is straightforward. When, during the pendency of an OMHD appeal, an event occurs such that the appellate court cannot grant any effectual relief, the appeal becomes moot and should ordinarily be dismissed. (See People v. Alsafar (2017) 8 Cal.App.5th 880, 882-883 (Alsafar); see also Conservatorship of Joseph W. (2011) 199 Cal.App.4th 953, 960-961 (Joseph W.) [...
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