Court Opinion

ID: 9787042
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 00:09:16.661382+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:51.604267
License: Public Domain

*254BAXTER, J., Concurring.
Defendant Roy Cobb, Jr., was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 2001. The present appeal is from a judgment extending Cobb’s commitment under the Mentally Disordered Offender Act (Pen. Code, § 2960 et seq.). Although defense counsel stated at each court appearance, beginning over a month before defendant’s prior commitment expired, that she was ready for trial on the petition to extend the commitment, that trial did not actually begin until 23 days after defendant’s prior commitment had expired. The trial court denied defendant’s request for release that was made at the expiration of his prior commitment, and defendant was forced to remain in custody pending trial. Defendant claims that he was prejudiced by the delayed trial and by his continued confinement and that the delay was without good cause.
In People v. Lara (2010) 48 Cal.4th 216 [106 Cal.Rptr.3d 208, 226 P.3d 322], this court upheld a judgment extending a commitment under Penal Code section 1026.5 where the filing of the petition and the commencement of the trial were delayed, the delay was without good cause, and the defendant similarly remained in custody pending trial even after the expiration of his prior commitment. In my separate concurring opinion, I justified that decision on the ground that Lara had failed to establish actual prejudice from the delayed filing of the petition or start of the trial, or from his continued confinement pending the trial. I found, in particular, that Lara had been granted sufficient time to prepare for trial and that there was no indication in the record—indeed, not even an allegation—that his continued confinement pending trial had affected the fairness of the proceeding or undermined confidence in the outcome. And I observed further that although a defendant involuntarily confined beyond his maximum commitment date without good cause and without statutory authorization “may be entitled to civil damages, . . . such confinement could not invalidate a trial conducted under fair procedures and resulting in an outcome that is reliable and unaffected by the error.” (People v. Lara, supra, 48 Cal.4th at p. 239 (cone. opn. of Baxter, J.).)
The majority opinion deems Lara fully sufficient to dispose of this appeal. Thus, the opinion does not address the question whether good cause was shown “for continuing defendant’s trial beyond his release date” (maj. opn., ante, at p. 251, fn. 2) because it concludes that defendant was not prejudiced by the delayed trial (even assuming the delay was unjustified) or by his continued confinement (even assuming the confinement was unlawful). Although its finding that defendant was not prejudiced is thus critical to its conclusion, the majority opinion’s discussion of prejudice nonetheless consists of exactly one sentence—“The fact that defendant was not released did *255not affect the validity of the eventual extension order”—and a citation to Lara. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 253.) Although I agree with the ultimate conclusion that defendant was not prejudiced, I disagree that this analysis is sufficient to dispose of defendant’s claim for relief.
Unlike Lara, defendant Cobb argues that the failure to grant his request for release upon the expiration of his prior commitment, when combined with the lateness of his trial, was unfair in specific and concrete ways and caused him actual prejudice. Defense counsel informed the court on the day jury selection began that it still had not received the curriculum vitae of the prosecution expert, nor had it received defendant’s medical records “even though the Court previously ordered them to be sent down here from Atascadero so that Dr. Kania could use them to evaluate [defendant].” In addition, defense counsel complained that “Dr. Kania has not been able to evaluate [defendant] because we haven’t gotten the records.” When the court inquired whether the case was ready for trial in light of these circumstances, defense counsel reminded the court that “with [defendant] continuing to be in custody,” “the appropriate consequences are not that we delay the trial yet again.”
A review of the entire record, however, does not support defendant’s claim that his continued confinement forced defense counsel to go to trial earlier that she would have liked and without adequate time to prepare for trial. The district attorney filed a petition to extend defendant’s commitment on March 6, 2006—nearly 12 weeks before the expiration of defendant’s prior commitment and three and one-half months before trial actually began. This was ample time to permit preparation of the defense. Moreover, defense counsel announced that she was ready for trial on April 24, 2006, over a month before the prior commitment expired, and asked that the matter proceed “forthwith”—even though she had not yet received these documents or conducted an evaluation of defendant by an expert. Indeed, counsel continued to say she was ready for trial at each succeeding court appearance, although the defense had not yet received those documents or had defendant evaluated by an expert. Finally, the defense did ultimately receive the hospital records and was granted an extensive opportunity to examine the prosecution expert’s qualifications outside the jury’s presence. These circumstances seriously undercut defendant’s claim that he was forced to go to trial unprepared because of his continued confinement.
In sum, the current record does not demonstrate that defendant’s complaints about the prosecution’s expert, the prosecution’s incompetence in providing discovery, and various actions taken by the court and court staff are connected to the delayed trial or to his continued confinement pending trial, whether in the state hospital or in the county jail, nor has he shown that either the delay in the trial or his continued confinement “interfered with his ability *256to prepare his defense or otherwise undermined the reliability of the verdict. Hence, he suffered no prejudice.” (People v. Lara, supra, 48 Cal.4th at p. 238 (cone. opn. of Baxter, J.).)
For these reasons, I concur in the judgment.