People v. Petty

213 Cal. App. 4th 1410, 154 Cal. Rptr. 3d 75, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 143
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 28, 2013
DocketNo. A130605
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 213 Cal. App. 4th 1410 (People v. Petty) 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. Petty, 213 Cal. App. 4th 1410, 154 Cal. Rptr. 3d 75, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 143 (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

[1412]*1412Opinion

RICHMAN, J,

After pleading guilty to felony grand theft (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. (a)),1 Nicholas Daniel Petty challenges on appeal two of the conditions of his probation, namely that he take antipsychotic medications at the direction of his mental health worker and that he stay at least 50 yards from the victim’s home. He also challenges the legality of a stay-away order prohibiting him from coming within 100 yards of the victim or her daughter.

Resolution of the first question requires us to consider the applicability of our prior decision in In re Luis F. (2009) 177 Cal.App.4th 176 [99 Cal.Rptr.3d 174] (Luis F.) to an adult probationer. In Luis F. we upheld the juvenile court’s power to require psychotropic medication as a condition of juvenile probation. But in the present case we conclude the medication condition of probation must be stricken due to lack of a medically informed showing that the condition is reasonably related to defendant’s crime or future criminality. We affirm the 50-yard restriction on defendant’s approach to the victim’s home and the stay-away order, as modified.

FACTS

In August 2010 the victim and her husband returned home to Novato from separate business trips to find about 10 items of jewelry worth about $9,500 missing from their bedroom. While she and her husband were away, the victim’s daughter hosted a party at the residence without her parents’ permission. The guests at the party included defendant, age 19, who eventually confessed to the theft.

About a month after the theft, defendant and his mother showed up at the victim’s home. Defendant told the victim he had taken the jewelry when he was drunk and could not explain why he took it. He claimed he had developed a guilty conscience in the days following the theft and had tried to return the jewelry by placing it in a blue envelope, along with a note of apology, and putting it under the victim’s fence at 3:00 a.m. He came back to check the following day and found the jewelry was gone, so he thought the victim had found it.

In a later phone call with the victim, defendant admitted he had taken the jewelry to pay off a drug debt. He also admitted to the police he was addicted to OxyContin. On the phone he told the victim he had placed the jewelry in a Ziploc bag and put it under the fence.

[1413]*1413Defendant entered a guilty plea before the preliminary examination. Imposition of sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation for three years.

DISCUSSION

The probation report recommended, among many other conditions, that defendant stay 100 yards away from the victim’s residence and that he “comply with all directions of his/her mental health worker, including taking medications as directed.” Defendant objected to those two conditions. The court modified the stay-away condition to 50 yards from the victim’s residence and modified the medication condition to make it “subject to court review upon the defendant’s timely objection.” The court also issued a protective order requiring defendant to stay at least 50 yards from the victim’s residence and 100 yards from the victim and her daughter.

Defendant challenges both the medication and stay-away conditions of probation and also claims the court had no authority to issue the protective order.

Medication condition

Defendant has a long history of mental health issues. By his own account, he had been on medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder since age seven and had been taking sleep aids since age 14. He began seeing a therapist and a behavioral pediatrician at approximately age 10. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder when he was 17. Defendant’s mother said he had recently been “stabilized” with “pretty heavy-duty medications.” Defendant told the probation officer he had been taking Seroquel and clonazepam at the time of his arrest, but his medications were changed to Thorazine and lithium when he went to jail. His stepmother thought he might be “over-medicated” and should be taken off all medications to have his mental status reevaluated. She also worried about the interaction between his medications and the alcohol and illicit drugs he consumed.

The probation report recommended that defendant be ordered to stay on his medications because “without appropriate treatment, his ability to comply with probation conditions may be compromised.” The prosecutor argued mental health medication was required for defendant’s rehabilitation, pointing out that the defense had drawn attention to his mental health problems in arguing for leniency during plea negotiations. •

The court concluded, “[I]t seems to me fairly clear that a part of the defendant’s criminality relates to his mental health.” The court appeared to [1414]*1414attach significance to defense counsel’s earlier reliance on defendant’s mental health problems in plea negotiations.

Defendant contends the medication condition violates People v. Lent (1975) 15 Cal.3d 481, 486 [124 Cal.Rptr. 905, 541 P.2d 545], in that it was not “reasonably related to the crime of which the defendant was convicted or to future criminality.” He further claims that, because it restricts his exercise of constitutional rights, it needed to be narrowly drawn and reasonably related to the compelling state interest in rehabilitating defendant and protecting public safety. (People v. O’Neil (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 1351, 1356 [81 Cal.Rptr.3d 878].)

Defendant relies largely on U.S. v. Williams (9th Cir. 2004) 356 F.3d 1045, 1053-1057 (Williams), which established certain procedural requirements before a court could impose a condition of supervised release requiring the defendant to take antipsychotic medication.2 The Attorney General opposes defendant’s position based on our prior decision in Luis F, supra, 177 Cal.App.4th 176. Defendant has the better argument.

In Luis F., supra, 177 Cal.App.4th 176, we held a juvenile offender could be ordered as a condition of probation to continue to take medically effective psychotropic drugs which had been prescribed by his doctor and which he had been taking voluntarily prior to being declared a ward. (Id. at pp. 192-193.) In so holding we reviewed a number of United States Supreme Court cases dealing with forced administration of antipsychotic drugs in which a due process right to refuse antipsychotic medication was recognized. (Luis F., supra, 177 Cal.App.4th at p. 183, fn. 6, discussing Washington v. Harper (1990) 494 U.S. 210, 221-222, 227 [108 L.Ed.2d 178, 110 S.Ct. 1028] [forcible administration to prison inmate], Riggins v. Nevada (1992) 504 U.S. 127, 133-135 [118 L.Ed.2d 479, 112 S.Ct. 1810] [forcible administration during trial] and Sell v. United States (2003) 539 U.S. 166, 179 [156 L.Ed.2d 197, 123 S.Ct. 2174] [forcible administration to render a defendant competent for trial]; see Carter v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
213 Cal. App. 4th 1410, 154 Cal. Rptr. 3d 75, 2013 Cal. App. LEXIS 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-petty-calctapp-2013.