People v. Nance

78 Cal.App.5th 784

294 Cal.Rptr.3d 52

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Jeremy NANCE, Defendant and Appellant.

C093044

Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

Filed May 12, 2022

Linda J. Zachritz, Fresno, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Darren K. Indermill, Paul E. O'Connor, Deputy Attorney Generals, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

RENNER, J.

In 2011, defendant Jeremy Nance was found not guilty by reason of insanity of sexual battery ( Pen. Code, § 243.4, subd. (b) )¹ and committed to Atascadero State Hospital. Defendant's term of commitment has been extended several times under section 1026.5. He appeals from the trial court's denial of his application for outpatient treatment pursuant to section 1026.2. After hearing defendant's evidence, the trial court granted the People's motion for a "directed verdict," finding defendant "could be a danger to the health and safety of others due to a mental defect, disease, or disorder if under supervision and treatment in the community." On appeal, defendant contends the court erred by weighing the evidence on a motion for directed verdict. Because the trial court was the fact finder, and therefore entitled to weigh the evidence, we will affirm its denial of defendant's application.²

I. BACKGROUND

On October 28, 2020, the trial court held a hearing on defendant's application for outpatient treatment. Defendant was the only witness. After the defendant rested his case, the People made an oral motion "for a directed verdict in that, at this stage ... the burden of proof has not been met by" defendant.

The court explained it was struck by defendant's "vacillation between whether or not he thinks he needs his medication, whether or not he thinks his medication is doing anything for him, whether or not he perceives his own condition and housing as necessary in terms of his view that he doesn't have a mental illness." The court found defendant had failed to meet his burden "primarily because of his own ability or inability, or refusal, to acknowledge his condition, his access to treatment, his involvement in treatment, and the impact of the medication for which both Counsel and [defendant] have conceded continues to be under involuntary order, although he articulated for himself he's choosing to take it."

The court granted the People's motion: "So the record is clear, the Court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that [defendant] could be a danger to the health and safety of others due to a mental defect, disease, or disorder if under supervision and treatment in the community."

II. DISCUSSION

A person who has been found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a state hospital may apply to the superior court for release from commitment "upon the ground that sanity has been restored." ( § 1026.2, subd. (a).) In 1984, the Legislature amended section 1026.2 to "require that a committed person spend one year as a supervised outpatient before applying for a sanity-restoration hearing" to obtain unconditional release. ( People v. Tilbury (1991) 54 Cal.3d 56, 62, 284 Cal.Rptr. 288, 813 P.2d 1318.) The statute now "involves what has been described as a two-step process." ( People v. Soiu (2003) 106 Cal.App.4th 1191, 1196, 131 Cal.Rptr.2d 421.) This case involves the first step in the release process regarding outpatient placement: "The court shall hold a hearing to determine whether the person applying for restoration of sanity would be a danger to the health and safety of others, due to mental defect, disease, or disorder, if under supervision and treatment in the community. If the court at the hearing determines the applicant will not be a danger to the health and safety of others, due to mental defect, disease, or disorder, while under supervision and treatment in the community, the court shall order the applicant placed with an appropriate forensic conditional release program for one year." ( § 1026.2, subd. (e).) At the outpatient placement hearing, the applicant has "the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence." (Id. , subd. (k).)

"The second step in the release process, often referred to as the restoration of sanity trial, normally occurs one year after the defendant has been placed in an outpatient program. Typically after one year, the court holds a trial to determine whether the defendant's sanity has been restored. Section 1026.2, subdivision (e), defines restoration of sanity as follows, ‘[T]he applicant is no longer a danger to the health and safety of others, due to mental defect, disease, or disorder.’ Unlike during the first step in the proceedings, the restoration of sanity trial requires the defendant to demonstrate that he or she is no longer a danger to the health and safety of others under all circumstances." ( People v. Soiu, supra , 106 Cal.App.4th at p. 1196, 131 Cal.Rptr.2d 421.) Under In re Franklin (1972) 7 Cal.3d 126, 101 Cal.Rptr. 553, 496 P.2d 465, a defendant is entitled to a jury at hearings on unconditional release. ( Id . at p. 131, 101 Cal.Rptr. 553, 496 P.2d 465 ; see People v. Tilbury, supra , 54 Cal.3d at p. 60, 284 Cal.Rptr. 288, 813 P.2d 1318.)

The sole argument raised in defendant's opening brief is that his evidence was sufficient for a fact finder to reasonably conclude he qualified for conditional release. In essence, defendant contends that because his testimony was equivocal on his need for medication, his application was not suitable for directed verdict because the trial court cannot weigh evidence in directing a verdict. As we will explain, his argument fails because the prosecution's motion has been mischaracterized by the parties and the trial court as one for a directed verdict.

Labeling a motion as one for a directed verdict does not make it so. ( Williams v. City of Belvedere (1999) 72 Cal.App.4th 84, 89, 84 Cal.Rptr.2d 658, italics added.)

"A motion for a directed verdict is a procedural device that is used to screen out cases that are too weak to support a jury verdict. Such a motion may be granted ‘ "only when, disregarding conflicting evidence and giving to plaintiff's evidence all the value to which it is legally entitled ... the result is a determination that there is no evidence of sufficient substantiality to support a verdict in favor of the plaintiff if such a verdict were given." ’ " ( Ibid. , italics added.) "Unless it can be said as a matter of law, that, when so considered, no other reasonable conclusion is legally deducible from the evidence, and that any other holding would be so lacking in evidentiary support that a reviewing court would be impelled to reverse it upon appeal, or the trial court to set it aside as a matter of law, the trial court is not justified in taking the case from the jury." ( Estate of Lances (1932) 216 Cal. 397, 400, 14 P.2d 768 ; accord People v. Severance (2006) 138 Cal.App.4th 305, 319, 41 Cal.Rptr.3d 397.) A jury is therefore a prerequisite to a directed verdict. Defendant argues the first step determination of whether he would be a danger to the health and safety of others due to mental defect, disease, or disorder if under supervision and treatment "is normally a question of fact subject to determination by a fact-finder such as a jury." He is mistaken. In People v. Tilbury, supra , 54 Cal.3d 56, 284 Cal.Rptr. 288, 813 P.2d 1318, our Supreme Court explained that a defendant is not entitled to a jury trial on this question. ( Id. at p. 59, 284 Cal.Rptr. 288, 813 P.2d 1318.) Hence, there was no jury at defendant's hearing. In People v. Severance, supra , 138 Cal.App.4th 305, 41 Cal.Rptr.3d 397, cited by defendant, at the end of a jury trial on a defendant's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, the court granted the prosecution's motion for a directed verdict of sanity. ( Id . at p. 309, 41 Cal.Rptr.3d 397.) This case does not support defendant's suggestion that his application for outpatient treatment presented a question for a jury.³ Additionally, in Severance , this court explained the sufficiency of evidence standard of review would have applied "if we were reviewing a sanity determination by the court sitting as the trier of fact . [Citation.] Here, however, the jury was the trier of fact, and the trial court took the issue of sanity from the jury when it directed a verdict of sanity. Thus, the appropriate standard of review is the one for a directed verdict." ( Id. at p. 319, 41 Cal.Rptr.3d 397.) In this appeal, defendant advocates for the standard of review for a directed verdict, but it does not apply because the trial court was the trier of fact and thus it did not take the issue from the jury.

Defendant cites People v. Mapp (1983) 150 Cal.App.3d 346, 198 Cal.Rptr. 177, to support the use of a directed verdict at the close of his case. Mapp involved an earlier version of section 1026.2 that did not require a term of outpatient treatment as a prerequisite to unconditional release. ( Id . at p. 348, 198 Cal.Rptr. 177 ; see Stats. 1980, ch. 547, § 4, p. 1506; People v. Tilbury, supra , 54 Cal.3d at p. 60, 284 Cal.Rptr. 288, 813 P.2d 1318.) In Mapp , the trial court had directed the jury to find the defendant's sanity had not been restored. ( Mapp, supra , at p. 348, 198 Cal.Rptr. 177.) The appellate court held that because In re Franklin, supra , 7 Cal.3d 126, 101 Cal.Rptr. 553, 496 P.2d 465 had created a right to a jury trial in those unconditional...