People v. Banerjee CA1/2

BACKGROUND

In April 2023, Banerjee was found incompetent to stand trial and subsequently committed to the state hospital for a two-year period.3 Psychiatric Evaluations In conjunction with Banerjee’s admission to the state hospital, on June 28, 2023, Alejandro Perez, M.D. conducted a psychiatric evaluation of Banerjee. Dr. Perez diagnosed Banerjee with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type. Banerjee had a history of psychiatric treatment since 2007 and had been psychotically hospitalized at least 10 times. Dr. Perez described Banerjee as “paranoid, grandiose, tangential, and perseverative on interview.” Review of Banerjee’s medical records revealed a long history of “ ‘floridly delusional’ ” and “ ‘disorganized’ ” thinking. Banerjee claimed to have multiple Ph.D.’s, as well as medical and law degrees. Dr. Perez conducted “face to face” assessments with Banerjee on June 28 and 29, 2023 to determine Banerjee’s capacity to consent to antipsychotic medication since Banerjee had refused to comply with the antipsychotic treatment offered on those dates. At the time of the interviews, Banerjee had

3 On our own motion, we take judicial notice of Banerjee’s filing of a no

issue appeal…