People v. Quaife CA5 ( 2024 )

Filed 9/20/24 P. v. Quaife CA5
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for
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or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
THE PEOPLE,
F086999
Plaintiff and Respondent,
(Super. Ct. No. FP004853A)
v.
TIFFANY JO QUAIFE, OPINION
Defendant and Appellant.
THE COURT*
APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Kern County. Michael G. Bush,
Judge.
Candice L. Christensen, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant
and Appellant.
Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General,
Kimberley A. Donohue, Assistant Attorney General, Darren K. Indermill and Warda
Ali-Baloch, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
-ooOoo-
* Before Franson, Acting P. J., Peña, J. and Snauffer, J.
Defendant and appellant Tiffany Jo Quaife (appellant) appeals from an order
following a jury trial extending her commitment as an offender with a mental health
disorder (OMHD) for one year pursuant to Penal Code1 section 2972, subdivision (c).
Appellant contends there was insufficient evidence her mental illness presents a
substantial danger of physical harm to others, the order should be reversed, and the matter
remanded with directions to deny the petition for recommitment. We reject appellant’s
contentions and affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Appellant assaulted an elderly victim with a knife on December 9, 2018.
Appellant reportedly was trying to cut herself in a suicide attempt but cut the victim
instead.
On December 11, 2018, the Kern County District Attorney filed a complaint
alleging appellant committed assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1); count I)
and infliction of an injury on an elderly adult 65 years of age or older under
circumstances or conditions likely to produce great bodily harm or death (§ 368,
subd. (b)(1); count II). The complaint also alleged appellant personally used a deadly or
dangerous weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)) as to count II, and personally inflicted great
bodily injury on an adult 70 years of age or older (§ 12022.7, subd. (c)) as to both counts.
The complaint further alleged appellant had two prior serious or violent felony
convictions (§§ 667, subds. (b)–(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)–(d)): a 2008 conviction for
assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)) and a 2015 conviction for arson
(§ 451, subd. (d)).
On November 5, 2019, appellant pled guilty to count II (§ 368, subd. (b)(1)) and
was sentenced to the middle term of six years. On January 19, 2021, appellant was
committed to Patton State Hospital (Patton) as a mentally ill prisoner. (§ 2684.)
1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.
2.
Appellant’s commitment status was changed to an OMHD pursuant to section 2962 on
October 13, 2021, with a maximum commitment date of October 13, 2023.
On July 14, 2023, the district attorney filed a petition pursuant to section 2970 to
extend appellant’s commitment by one year to end on October 13, 2024. Attached to the
petition was an affidavit from Gillian Friedman, M.D., Patton’s acting medical director,
stating appellant suffered from a severe mental disorder that was not in remission or
could not be kept in remission if appellant’s treatment was not continued, and by reason
of her severe mental disorder, appellant represented a substantial danger of physical harm
to others. Appellant contested the petition and requested a jury trial. The petition was
tried before a jury in October 2023.
At trial, the district attorney presented a single witness, Dr. Jason Rowden, the
forensic psychologist at Patton, who evaluated appellant and prepared a report
recommending she be recommitted. As part of his evaluation, Rowden reviewed
appellant’s medical records from Patton and her criminal history, and interviewed
appellant several times. His last interview of appellant was approximately one hour on
January 19, 2023.
Rowden opined that appellant had schizoaffective disorder (depressive type), a
severe mental disorder. He further opined her mental disorder was not in remission based
on the totality of symptoms observed by him and other clinicians. Appellant’s condition
required continued psychiatric and psychosocial treatment.
Rowden testified appellant had been confused in the past about why she was in the
hospital but more recently, she had more of an understanding her hospitalization was
related to her mental illness. She inaccurately believed her diagnosis was paranoid
schizophrenia. Appellant reported she continued to hear voices, including hearing her
clothes talking to her. Appellant had been taking her medications and told Rowden her
medications “ ‘even out my personality and my brain.’ ” She was unable to name her
medications and Rowden believed she had a very poor understanding of why she takes
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them. Appellant also had an understanding she could eventually get off the medications.
Her engagement in treatment had previously been inconsistent, but she had been
attending more group sessions in the last year.
Appellant harbored a delusion about plans to sell cookies and believed another
person had stolen her cookie ideas and was selling them at Walmart. This was a recurring
delusion documented in appellant’s progress reports from Patton. In another recurring
delusion, appellant believed other people could jump into her body. She reported others
have caused her to get pimples or stolen her body parts.
Rowden opined that appellant’s insight into her mental illness vacillates where
sometimes she understood her delusions were a symptom and, other times, she believed
the delusions were real. Appellant had a hard time understanding reality and had ongoing
delusions of paranoia about what others were doing to her. In a December 2022 progress
note, appellant reported that another patient came up behind her and “grabbed her butt,”
but she did not know whether this was a symptom of her mental disorder.
Rowden opined that appellant represents a substantial danger of physical harm to
others due to her severe mental illness. This opinion was based on appellant’s poor
insight into her mental disorder, criminal history, lack of understanding about how she
could become dangerous again, and lack of an adequate plan on how to manage her
mental illness or history of substance abuse. Rowden testified the best predictor of future
behavior is past behavior. Part of a violence risk assessment includes looking at a
person’s criminal history. Appellant’s criminal history dated to 1999, when she was
15 years old, and included various offenses such as battery, battery on a police officer,
assault with a deadly weapon, and arson. Other prior convictions were related to drug
use. Rowden testified drug use typically exacerbates a mental disorder’s symptoms and
impacts medications’ effectiveness. This can lead to further decompensation, intensifying
symptoms, and violent behavior. When Rowden asked appellant about the underlying
offense, appellant still believed the offense occurred because the victim’s son jumped into
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her body and “ ‘made her do those things.’ ” Rowden was concerned about appellant
engaging in similar behavior because she continued to have similar symptoms and still
believed those delusions were true. The fact that appellant had not recently engaged in
violent behavior while in the hospital did not change Rowden’s opinion. Rowden opined
that appellant’s currently structured environment with medication management made it
less likely a patient would act in violent ways.
After the prosecution rested, appellant moved for nonsuit based on the evidence
presented not proving beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant continued to qualify for
commitment. The trial court denied appellant’s motion. Appellant did not present any
evidence or testify at trial.
On October 11, 2023, the jury found appellant met the criteria for continued
commitment. After the jury’s verdict, the trial court denied appellant’s request she be
released for treatment on an outpatient basis (§ 2972, subd. (d)).
On October 12, 2023, the trial court ordered appellant recommitted for an
additional year to commence on October 13, 2023 and end on October 13, 2024.
Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal.
DISCUSSION
I. Relevant Legal Principles
Enacted in 1985, the Mentally Disordered Offender Act (§ 2960 et seq.) (the Act)
“requires that an offender who has been convicted of a specified felony related to a severe
mental disorder and who continues to pose a danger to society receive appropriate
treatment until the disorder can be kept in remission.” (People v. Harrison (2013) 57
Cal.4th 1211, 1218.) The Act’s purpose “is to provide [a mentally disordered offender
(MDO)] with treatment while at the same time protecting the general public from the
danger to society posed by an offender with a mental disorder.” (In re Qawi (2004) 32
Cal.4th 1, 9 (Qawi); § 2960.)
5.
“The … Act provides for treatment at three stages of commitment: as a condition
of parole (§ 2962), in conjunction with the extension of parole (§ 2966, subd. (c)), and
following release from parole (§§ 2970, 2972).” (People v. Foster (2019) 7 Cal.5th 1202,
1207.) “Sections 2970 and 2972 govern the third and final phase of MDO commitment,
which begins once the offender’s parole term has expired. Section 2970 permits a district
attorney, on the recommendation of medical professionals, to petition to recommit an
offender as an MDO for an additional one-year term. An offender will be recommitted if
‘the court or jury finds [1] that the patient has a severe mental disorder, [2] that the
patient’s severe mental disorder is not in remission or cannot be kept in remission without
treatment, and [3] that by reason of his or her severe mental disorder, the patient
represents a substantial danger of physical harm to others.’ (§ 2972, subd. (c).)” (Foster,
at p. 1208.)
Commitment proceedings are civil in nature, not criminal. (People v. Blackburn
(2015) 61 Cal.4th 1113, 1119.) An offender may request a jury trial to contest a petition
for recommitment. (Id. at pp. 1122–1123; § 2972, subd. (a)(1).) The “state bears the
burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the person should be recommitted for
another year.” (People v. Dunley (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 1438, 1448.)
“When reviewing a challenge to a civil commitment based on insufficient
evidence, we consider the entire record in the light most favorable to the judgment to
determine whether a reasonable trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt
that the defendant met the requirements for the commitment.” (People v. Jenkins (2023)
95 Cal.App.5th 142, 150.)
II. Analysis
Appellant does not specifically challenge the determination she has a severe
mental disorder that “is not in remission or cannot be kept in remission without
treatment” (§ 2972, subd. (c)). Appellant only challenges the finding that by reason of
her severe mental disorder, she “represents a substantial danger of physical harm to
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others .…” (Ibid.) Appellant contends there is insufficient evidence she poses a
substantial danger of physical harm to others because she has not been violent since her
commitment and is not a current danger to others.
While the term “ ‘substantial danger of physical harm to others’ is without
definition,” “[i]n context, it appears to mean a prediction of future dangerousness by
mental health professionals.” (Qawi, supra, 32 Cal.4th at p. 24.) Courts have recognized
that “[a] single psychiatric opinion that a person is dangerous because of a mental
disorder constitutes substantial evidence to justify the extension of commitment.”
(People v. Williams (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 861, 872.)
Substantial evidence supports the jury’s finding appellant represents a substantial
danger of physical harm to others. Rowden testified appellant’s insight into her mental
disorder vacillates because sometimes she understood her delusions as a symptom of her
disorder and other times, appellant believed the delusions were real. He believed
appellant did not understand how she could become dangerous again and did not have an
adequate plan on how to manage her mental illness. Appellant believed she could
eventually get off her medications and harbored a delusion about selling cookies upon her
release. Appellant told Rowden she committed the underlying offense because the
victim’s son jumped into her body and made her “ ‘do those things.’ ” Because appellant
still believed her delusions that others can jump into her body, Rowden was concerned
appellant could behave similarly in a less restricted setting. Rowden was also concerned
appellant’s history of substance abuse indicated a risk of drug use following her release,
which could impact the effectiveness of her medications and lead to decompensation,
intensifying symptoms, and violent behavior.
Appellant likens her case to Jenkins to argue the recommitment order should be
reversed. The offender in Jenkins attacked her elderly landlord with a hammer in 1999
and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. (People v. Jenkins, supra, 95 Cal.App.5th at
pp. 145–146.) The offender was committed as an MDO in 2014, and her commitment
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was extended multiple times although she had not been violent for more than 20 years.
(Id. at p. 146.) In reversing the 2022 recommitment order, the Jenkins court found there
was not substantial evidence the offender represented a substantial danger of physical
harm to others because there was no evidence she had been violent or physically
aggressive since her 1999 commitment offense, she was 70 years old, her mental health
had improved, and her physical health had deteriorated. (Id. at pp. 151–153.) Jenkins
rightly acknowledged “ ‘[s]uch a complete absence of violent or aggressive behavior of
any kind over a long period of time is necessarily an important, objective factor that must
not be ignored when determining [an MDO’s] dangerousness.’ ” (Id. at p. 152.)
Appellant claims her case is analogous to Jenkins because her underlying conviction was
for injury to an elder and appellant has not been violent or threatened violence since her
commitment offense. Despite these superficial similarities, Jenkins is readily
distinguishable. Here, there was less than five years between appellant’s 2018 offense
and the recommitment proceeding in 2023. Appellant does not have decades of
demonstrated nonviolence like the offender in Jenkins that would support a finding
beyond a reasonable doubt she does not represent a substantial danger of physical harm to
others. Furthermore, while the evidence showed the offender’s mental health had
improved in Jenkins, appellant continued to have the same delusion about others jumping
into her body that contributed to the underlying offense.
Appellant’s reliance on People v. Johnson (2020) 55 Cal.App.5th 96 and People v.
Redus (2020) 54 Cal.App.5th 998 is similarly misplaced. Johnson reversed a
commitment extension order where there was no evidence of violence by the 69-year-old
schizophrenic offender for nearly 30 years, including approximately 11 years when he
was conditionally released. (Johnson, at pp. 108–109.) In Redus, the 73-year-old
offender “had not committed a violent act since his commitment offense some 45 years
earlier.” (Redus, at p. 1011.) The Redus court concluded that while the offender still had
delusions and paranoia, the evidence was insufficient to show “the required link between
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[the offender’s] ongoing mental illness and his purported difficulty in controlling his
potentially dangerous behavior” under section 1026.5.2 (Redus, at p. 1013.) Again, here,
and in contrast to these cases, appellant did not have decades of nonviolent behavior and
continued to harbor the same delusion that previously resulted in violence.
Appellant contends courts have held that recommitment is improper for mentally
disabled offenders who have been free of violence. But in the case appellant relies on,
the offender had “never engaged in behavior dangerous to others because of his mental
disorder.” (People v. Cheatham (2022) 82 Cal.App.5th 782, 790.) The same cannot be
said of appellant, who cut the victim during the commitment offense because she
believed the victim’s son jumped inside her body and made her do so.
Appellant argues she has controlled her behavior notwithstanding ongoing
delusions and has never been physically violent towards another patient or staff member
during her commitment.3 The lack of evidence showing recent violent conduct is
immaterial because a finding of “ ‘substantial danger of physical harm’ does not require
proof of a recent overt act.” (§ 2962, subd. (g); Qawi, supra, 32 Cal.4th at p. 24 [“a
finding of recent dangerousness is not required”].) Rowden testified appellant’s
structured setting with staff trained to ensure she complied with her medication regimen
made it less likely a patient would act out violently. Appellant’s lack of violent behavior
2 Section 1026.5 provides the term of commitment for a defendant who has been
found not guilty by reason of insanity pursuant to section 1026.
3 Appellant cites People v. Williams (1988) 198 Cal.App.3d 1476 and Cramer v.
Tyars (1979) 23 Cal.3d 131 to argue courts have held that “present behavior is paramount
in determining dangerousness.” The analyses cited in both cases are inapposite because
they involved commitment proceedings under different statutes. (Williams, at p. 1480
[defendant found not guilty by reason of insanity was required to show he was “no longer
a danger to the health and safety of others, including himself” (§ 1062.2, subd. (e)) for
conditional release]; Tyars, at p. 142 [the “pertinent issue” under Welfare and Institutions
Code “section 6507 is the present ‘condition or status’ of the” developmentally disabled
person].)
9.
during commitment may simply have been the result of the hospital environment and
staff ensuring she takes her medications. (See, e.g., People v. Sumahit (2005) 128
Cal.App.4th 347, 353 [“The fact that defendant has not misbehaved in a strictly
controlled hospital environment does not prove he no longer suffers from a mental
disorder that poses a danger to others.”].)
We conclude substantial evidence supports the jury’s finding beyond a reasonable
doubt that appellant represents a substantial danger of physical harm to others.
DISPOSITION
The order recommitting appellant is affirmed.
10.