People v. Superior Court (Taylor)

Summary

The California Court of Appeal granted the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s petition for a writ of mandate and directed the superior court to vacate its order granting Job Uriah Taylor pretrial mental health diversion. The court held that no substantial evidence supported the required finding that Taylor would not pose an unreasonable risk to public safety if treated in the community, particularly because the evidence did not establish that he would comply with treatment in an unlocked program. The court ordered the superior court to deny diversion and separately ordered the opinion certified for publication.

Holdings

1. The superior court abused its discretion because no substantial evidence supported its implicit finding that Taylor would not pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety if granted diversion.
2. Although section 1001.36 expressly requires the defendant to agree to treatment, its public-safety requirement implicitly obligates the court to determine whether the defendant will likely follow through on that agreement.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the superior court abused its discretion by granting pretrial mental health diversion without substantial evidence supporting a finding that Taylor would not pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety if treated in the community.
2. Whether Penal Code section 1001.36 implicitly requires the court to determine whether a defendant is likely to comply with the treatment agreement when assessing the public-safety criterion for diversion.

Disposition

writ_granted