6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/05/12 Afternoon Session - May 12, 2026
argument6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/05/12 Afternoon Session
California Sixth District Court of Appeal
1h 7m
6 chapters
transcribed 10 days ago
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Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the opening procedure and who are the participants at the start of the oral argument?
Hi, good afternoon, Mr. Azimont. Are you able to hear me and see me?
I can hear you. Well. I'm sorry.
Is that Mr. Perez? I see Mr. Asimov has joined.
Yes, I see him. Yes.
Okay. Thank you.
Matters on calendar, uh there will be no panel change. Um Usually I make uh a statement about technology, but in this instance we have One person sitting in the gallery today and he's uh a counsel I know you're gonna be appearing on the second case, I think. Um so um Mr Brooks, while the first case is is on, you'll be able to hear everything but you won't be able to see. And if you wanted a visual you'd be welcome to step into the waiting room where we have live stream. Or otherwise watch it. Um subsequently uh we we archive all of the OA on our website, which you probably already know, but in any event Um everyone else is appearing remotely, and it's our pleasure to provide that opportunity. Um to uh
um those who are arguing in our court um So um give me just a moment to set up my laptop and we will be ready to go.
Matter H O five two seven one three the people, plaintiff and respondent versus Thomas Joseph Andrews, defendant and appellant. If I could have appellants counsels uh appearance and confirmation of your time estimate, please.
Um good afternoon. Uh may I please the court Omer Khan for the appellant Thomas Andrews. Um I asked for ten minutes, um and I would like to reserve three minutes for rebuttal.
All right, so seven and three.
Yes.
All right, thank you very much. And appearing from the Attorney General's office today.
Good afternoon and may it please the court, Deputy Attorney General Lindsay Thompson, on behalf of the people and respondent. Um I'm estimating less than ten minutes for my response.
All right, thank you very much. Let's return back to Mr. Conn and we're interested to hear your comments, or you go ahead.
Okay. Appreciate that. Thank you, Your Honor. So this case presents a single question. Um did the trial court apply the correct legal standard when it denied pretrial mental health diversion? The statute requires a finding that the defendant poses an unreasonable risk of committing a super strike offense. The trial court never identified evidence that Thomas was likely to commit any of those offenses. Instead, it denied diversion because the underlying facts were, in the court's own words, very scary. But scary is not the statutory standard. The legislature deliberately chose a narrow high threshold, and this court should hold a trial court to it. Now the facts of this case are laid out in the briefs and unquestionably the trial court was right.
They are scary. But it's important to emphasize the standard that the legislature has outlined for mental health diversions. After a defendant is found eligible for a diversion, as in the case with Thomas, the trial court can only deny diversion on the basis of unreasonable risk to public safety if the defendant is likely to commit a new super strike offense if treated in the c if treated in the community.
Mr Conn, I'm just gonna stop you there. We seem to have lost the attorney general, at least on screen. Oh,
I'm so sorry. I must have accidentally turned it off. My apologies.
All right. Thank you very much, Ms. Thompson. Is it back? Sorry. Yes, yes. Mr. Connor, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I just wanted to make sure we had both sides. Yeah, you go ahead. Yeah,
no problem. No problem at all. So, um, back to where I was. Um according so according to relevant case law, this essentially means that the trial court can deny a diversion if there is evidence that even with treatment the defendant is likely to commit a new super strike offense. But facts strictly within the four corners of a psychiatric episode in an untreated state are not sufficient to deny a diversion. And that is the case here. All of the scary facts cited the trial cited by the trial court occurred during a severe manic episode. There is a lack of evidence outside of those four corners to indicate that Thomas is likely to commit a super strike offense in the future. He has no super strike history.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the opening procedure and who are the participants at the start of the oral argument?
0:33–28:06
2
Why does the court announce that there will be no panel change and explain the remote‑appearance setup?
28:06–34:42
3
What is the primary issue in Matter H O 527‑13 involving Thomas Joseph Andrews?
34:42–38:39
4
Did the trial court apply the correct legal standard when it denied pre‑trial mental‑health diversion?
38:39–45:12
5
What caused the temporary loss of the Attorney General’s video feed during the argument?
45:12–54:59
6
What standard of review does the Court of Appeal apply to the trial court’s diversion decision?
54:59–1:07:22
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