People v. Samuels CA3

DISCUSSION

Section 1370, subdivision (c)(1) provides that three years is the maximum term a person may be committed to a state hospital based on a determination that the person is mentally incompetent to stand trial. (In re Mille (2010) 182 Cal.App.4th 635, 643.) “The three-year period . . . applies to the aggregate of all commitments for treatment for incompetency regarding the same charges.” (People v. Reynolds (2011) 196 Cal.App.4th

2 Among other things, defendant has been diagnosed with mixed receptive-expressive language disorder and borderline intellectual functioning.

2 801, 806; In re Polk (1999) 71 Cal.App.4th 1230, 1238.) Thus, the trial court must include a defendant’s prior commitment on the same charges when calculating a subsequent commitment for incompetency. (Reynolds, supra, at pp. 807-809.) Here, defendant’s recommitment exceeded the authorized maximum term because it did not account for the time he had already completed in the state hospital for a prior commitment on the same charges. Out of a possible aggregate commitment term of 1,095 days, defendant had already served 398 days of competency training; therefore, the trial court could only recommit defendant…