People v. L.F. CA4/2

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 4, 2015
DocketE059840
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. L.F. CA4/2 (People v. L.F. CA4/2) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. L.F. CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Filed 3/4/15 P. v. L.F. CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, E059840

v. (Super.Ct.No. FELSS1205147)

L.F., OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. Victor R. Stull,

Judge. Affirmed.

Michele Anne Cella, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant

and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General,

A. Natasha Cortina and Ryan H. Peeck, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and

Respondent.

In October 2009, defendant and appellant L.F. was sentenced to three years in

prison following a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon. (Pen. Code, § 245, subd 1 (a)(1).) In December 2010, the Board of Prison Terms (the Board) found that he met the

requirements of a mentally disordered offender (MDO) under Penal Code section 2962

and detained him at Atascadero State Hospital for continued involuntary treatment. On

October 24, 2012, defendant’s MDO commitment was continued, and he was moved to

Patton State Hospital (Patton). Defendant filed a petition challenging the Board’s

determination (Pen. Code, § 2966). On October 1, 2013, a jury affirmed the Board’s

determination.

Defendant appeals, contending the trial court prejudicially erred in admitting into

evidence Patton’s Interdisciplinary Notes written by numerous staff members. For the

reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Prior to trial, defendant moved to exclude testimony about the contents of the

hospital records, or Interdisciplinary Notes, upon which the prosecution expert witnesses

relied. The Interdisciplinary Notes consisted of 13 (out of 545) pages of handwritten

notations by staff members at Patton concerning defendant’s behaviors, statements, and

well-being. Outside the presence of the jury, the attorneys argued about admissibility and

whether the jury should be able to consider the Interdisciplinary Notes as evidence.

Defense counsel asserted that the prosecution had not laid and would not be able to lay

the appropriate foundation to admit the Interdisciplinary Notes, and that the

Interdisciplinary Notes alone were unreliable. When asked to identify which specific

notes were objectionable, defense counsel maintained that she was “objecting to all of

them” because the records were inadmissible hearsay lacking a foundation. In response,

2 the prosecutor argued that her experts could rely upon the Interdisciplinary Notes

regardless of whether they were admissible, but agreed that a foundation was necessary

for their admission. Nonetheless, she further asserted that the Interdisciplinary Notes

were admissible as business records pursuant to Evidence Code section 1561. The trial

court agreed that the Interdisciplinary Notes, which are routinely relied upon by

professionals in the field, are reliable, and it found them admissible under Evidence Code

section 1562.

At the MDO hearing, evidence was introduced through the testimonies of

Drs. Robert Suiter, Steven Galarza, and defendant.

A. Dr. Suiter’s Testimony

Dr. Suiter is a psychologist who evaluated defendant on October 2, 2012, to

determine whether he suffered from a severe mental disorder, whether he was in

remission or could not be kept in remission, and whether the disorder caused him to be a

danger to others. The doctor diagnosed defendant with severe schizophrenia, paranoid

type. He explained that schizophrenia is an incurable chronic condition, causing

delusions which are irrational thoughts (paranoid) or beliefs (grandiose).

Dr. Suiter opined that defendant was not in remission and could not voluntarily be

kept in remission, and that defendant presented a substantial danger of harm to others

because of his condition. The doctor explained that defendant “hears voices which

disrespect him,” and suffers from a number of different paranoid delusions. For example,

defendant has believed that members of his family attempted to kill him; he was a

prisoner of war in a concentration camp; his medication was poisoning his body and his

3 brain; and that the judge in his case, police, and the legal system colluded to hospitalize

him so that the hospital would receive funds and other people would be paid for his

commitment. During Dr. Suitor’s interview with defendant, defendant was medicated but

was nevertheless delusional.

In evaluating defendant, Dr. Suiter primarily relied upon Patton’s records,

including the Interdisciplinary Notes. Within these records, Dr. Suiter found evidence

that defendant demonstrated or reported symptoms indicative of his psychotic disorder.

Specifically, Dr. Suiter recounted three incidents in August and September 2012. The

incidents involved defendant being verbally abusive to hospital staff, entering another

patient’s room and threatening him, and “mim[ing] with his hand as if he was firing a

handgun” at his treating psychiatrist, Dr. Galarza. The incidents were significant because

they confirmed that defendant was not in remission and thus posed a danger to others.

B. Dr. Galarza’s Testimony

Dr. Galarza is defendant’s psychiatrist at Patton. Defendant has been

Dr. Galarza’s patient since late 2011. In order to determine what kind of mental disorder

defendant suffers, the doctor reviewed his medical history and his legal file, discussed

defendant’s condition with his mother, and met with defendant personally. Dr. Galarza

diagnosed defendant with schizophrenia, paranoid type, and agreed that it is a chronic

disease. The doctor testified that defendant suffers from paranoid delusions, such as

delusions of conspiracy involving his belief that people want to hurt, attack and kill him.

During these periods he would become threatening, requiring emergency doses of

medication and multiple staff members to calm him down. In treating defendant,

4 Dr. Galarza explained that the “first thing” is supervision. Defendant attends group

sessions where he learns how to regulate his mood, and he is prescribed medications.

Dr. Galarza testified that during the year prior to October 2012, defendant had

trouble differentiating between what was reality and what was imagined. He suffered

from paranoid delusions, and had a “near zero understanding of his condition.” For

example, he thought he was in a concentration camp, that members of the staff were

Nazis, and that he was being “set up by the government.”

Dr. Galarza was shown the Interdisciplinary Notes, and he explained they are

Patton’s medical records. More particularly, the doctor was questioned as to why

defendant was on “30-minute checks” on October 20, 2012. Dr. Galarza explained that

during the week ending October 20, defendant was walking around the hospital unit,

mumbling to himself, and glaring at other patients and staff. He appeared “very

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People v. L.F. CA4/2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-lf-ca42-calctapp-2015.