Wednesday, February 21, 2024

People v. Garcia (Cal. Ct. App. - Feb. 21, 2024)

It just gets worse and worse as you wade through this opinion:

"In July 2021, Garcia sent threatening text messages to a Child Welfare Services worker. Garcia threatened to abduct the worker, “cement” her, and “toss” her into a river for abducting and abusing Garcia’s children. In People v. Garcia, No. SCN426026, the San Diego County District Attorney charged Garcia with one count of making threats to a public officer (§ 71); and two counts of disobeying a court order (§ 273.6)."

Okay, not wise to send those text messages. I know you're upset. Few people are super thrilled to have child welfare officials intrude into their parenting. Still. No threatening messages, okay?

"In August 2021, Garcia brought a large kitchen knife into juvenile court. Video surveillance showed that she had the weapon in her waistband when she walked into a courthouse restroom. The knife was later recovered from the restroom. In People v. Garcia, No. SCD291317, the San Diego County District Attorney charged Garcia with possessing a weapon in a courthouse (§ 171b, subd. (a))."

Yikes. That's quite a bit of escalation, no? Plus, I gotta ask, how did the knife get through the metal detector? Inquiring minds definitely want to know.

Still. Don't bring weapons into court. An even worse idea than the threatening text messages.

"In June 2022, Garcia “stabbed a woman several times in the back, head and neck.” The attack resulted in “several lacerations to the victim” and required “staples and sutures to close” the wounds. In People v. Garcia, No. CD294930, the San Diego County District Attorney charged Garcia with attempted murder (§§ 664, 187, subd. (a)) and assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)). The felony complaint further alleged that Garcia personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon under section 12022, subdivision (b)(1) and personally inflicted great bodily injury under section 12022.7, subdivision (a)."

Now we're really off the deep end. No probation this time. This is attempted murder. You can't get much more of a serious charge than that.

Ms. Garcia is ultimately found incompetent to stand trial, and reading the opinion, you can see why. There's a serious mental health problem ("unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorder"). Which is something that I'm quite confident is not improved in the slightest by the use of recreational drugs (e.g., the reference to "stimulant use disorder" in the opinion).

I'm not confident that Ms. Garcia will get much better in the state's mental health facility. But I don't think she'll get much worse, either.

Life outside was not going well for anyone. Not Ms. Garcia, and definitely not the people around her.