California v. Tejeda
Annotate this CaseJunior Tejeda was twice found incompetent to stand trial for murder and robbery charges due to his persistent belief that his actions were controlled by a "mind control project" run by the federal government. He was later found competent after the trial court determined he could compartmentalize any lingering delusion and separate it from his defense. But at trial Tejeda took the stand against his counsel's wishes, admitted guilt for the murder and robbery, and explained that "the project" controlled his actions. The trial court did not declare a doubt as to Tejeda's competency, and he was convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms. The California Supreme Court's recent decision in California v. Rodas, 6 Cal.5th 219 (2018) compelled the Court of Appeal to conclude that the trial court should have declared a doubt as to Tejeda's competency once it became clear he could no longer separate his delusion from his defense, as that was the entire basis for his prior competency finding. On this record, the trial court's failure to do so required reversal for retrial "if and when Tejeda is found competent."
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