People v. Helton CA3

BACKGROUND

A. The underlying conviction To provide context, we will incorporate relevant information from our unpublished opinion upholding defendant’s underlying conviction. (People v. Helton (Dec. 3, 2015, C074393) [nonpub. opn.].) “In 2004, defendant Richard Helton, who had been drinking, assaulted his live-in girlfriend [K.D.], threatened to kill her, and strangled her until she passed out. Both defendant and [K.D.] have histories of serious mental illness. In the more than eight years of litigation prior to his conviction by jury, defendant at times represented himself and at times was represented by various counsel, both appointed and retained. His first trial, in 2005, ended prematurely in a mistrial due to his own misbehavior. “The trial court twice found defendant incompetent to stand trial and committed him to Napa State Hospital (NSH). Eventually, despite multiple doctors opining that he was unlikely to regain competency to stand trial in the foreseeable future, a jury found him competent based on his recorded telephone conversations regarding trial strategy. “In 2013, a jury found defendant guilty of attempted murder (Pen. Code, §§ 664/187, subd. (a)) with a great…