Los Angeles can’t allow mental health court to fail

It’s obvious to Angelenos that there’s a mental health crisis on our city streets. What they don’t know is that the crisis is fueled in part by the shameful backlog of cases in our courtrooms. Los Angeles’s mental health court system is at a breaking point. Mental Health Court lawyers, who are part of the Public Defender’s Office, are each carrying an impossibly large number of cases – as high as 500 or more. It is causing delays in trials, and a situation where clients cannot access the treatment they need. This has a real world impact on Angelenos when people cycle repeatedly between the streets, the jails, and the courts.

The right to counsel guaranteed in the Sixth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment require that those charged with a criminal case understand the charges against them and are able to participate in their defense. For those who are unable to satisfy these requirements, due to acute mental illness or cognitive impairments, criminal proceedings must be suspended and they are declared incompetent to stand trial. In Los Angeles County, these individuals are referred to the Mental Health Court. For the thousands who cannot afford to hire an attorney, the Public Defender’s Office is the first line of defense.

Although imperfect, the Mental Health Court has a range of effective options which simply aren’t available within the criminal courts. These include access to treatment within the community, permanent supportive housing through the Office of Diversion and Re-entry, mental health diversion, and referrals to the state hospital and conservatorships.

But under our staggering caseloads, our mental health court lawyers simply can’t do the work that is required for this system to function. To be effective, our lawyers need time to meet with their clients to get to know their unique needs; time to review their clients’ voluminous mental health records; time to consult with the right psychologist or psychiatrist to assist with the case; time to research and prepare written motions; and time to visit clients in the community and the state hospitals to ensure they are receiving the care they need. This time simply doesn’t exist for our mental health court lawyers each juggling hundreds of cases. As a result these lawyers, and the entire mental health court, must practice in a permanent state of near-collapse which takes a tremendous toll on all involved.

Under guidelines set forth by the American Bar Association, the Public Defender for Los Angeles County, Ricardo García, has an ethical obligation to take prompt action to avoid excessive workloads like those faced by our mental health court lawyers. The simplest way to do this is for the Public Defender’s Office to stop accepting every single case until this workload crisis is resolved. A portion of all new cases would then be referred to other attorneys appointed by the court. But, despite our repeated efforts to sound the alarm bell, Mr. García has refused to heed our cry. As a result our mental health court practice is now in a full state of crisis. And Angelenos are seeing the impact first-hand in every neighborhood.

We are calling on the County Executive Office, the Board of Supervisors, and the community to demand that Mr. Garcia temporarily stop the inflow of new cases to the Public Defender’s Office and ensure that the Mental Health Court is appropriately staffed to serve the most vulnerable among us. Our clients, our city, and our lawyers deserve better.