People v. J.S. CA4/2

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND1

On March 6, 2014, defendant was committed to Patton State Hospital as an MDO.

Pursuant to an administrative hearing conducted on July 30, 2014, beginning on July 16,

2014, she was medicated involuntarily on an interim basis, as allowed under California

Code of Regulations, title 9, section 4210, and Penal Code section 2972, subdivision (g).

Those interim proceedings authorized involuntary medication through January 26, 2015.

On September 16, 2014, the Department of State Hospitals filed a petition requesting the

trial court to authorize continued involuntary administration of medication for a period of

one year from the date of the order.

On October 24, 2014, the trial court conducted a hearing on the petition. The

court heard testimony from Dr. Shana Nguyen, who had been J.S.’s treating psychologist

from July 2014 through September 2014, and had reviewed the notes of the psychologist

who had taken over that responsibility as of the beginning of October 2014. Dr. Nguyen

testified that defendant has a “longstanding chronic psychiatric history,” and a diagnosis

of “bipolar affective disorder, manic, with psychotic features,” as well…