Conservatorship of the Person of A.J.

BACKGROUND

Around 2010, A.J. started experiencing auditory hallucinations, resulting in hospitalizations in 2018 and 2021. He was also incarcerated on multiple occasions in Monterey County, San Francisco County, and Oregon. He was diagnosed in 2023 with schizophrenia and found mentally incompetent to stand trial on various assault and battery charges. The criminal court later vacated the incompetency order and directed the Public Guardian to investigate whether to initiate a LPS conservatorship. As a result of that investigation, the Public Guardian filed a petition to establish a temporary conservatorship and/or conservatorship of A.J. because he was gravely disabled as a result of a mental health and/or severe substance abuse disorder. (§§ 5008, 5350.) His treating psychiatrist noted his history of randomly provoking and assaulting individuals, behavior that appeared tied to ongoing paranoid delusions and auditory hallucinations. The psychiatrist further explained that — although A.J. expressed amenability to mental health treatment — he does not believe he has a mental illness, does not believe medication would manage his symptoms, and has historically demonstrated an…