A California appeals court has overturned a lower court's decision to grant mental health diversion to a man accused of a racially motivated violent attack in Santa Monica that left one victim with life-altering injuries, ruling that no evidence supported the trial court's finding that the defendant would not pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.
The Second District Court of Appeal issued the ruling March 5, directing the Los Angeles County Superior Court to vacate its order granting pretrial mental health diversion to Job Uriah Taylor, 25 at the time of the alleged offenses, and enter a new order denying the motion. The opinion, authored by Presiding Justice Frances Rothschild and joined by Justices Bendix and M. Kim, was certified for publication.
The appellate court's decision turned on a single question: whether Taylor would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety if treated in the community, as required under the Penal Code.
The court found that none of the mental health experts who evaluated Taylor answered that question adequately. The defense's psychologist, Dr. Robin Rhodes Campbell, concluded Taylor would not pose an unreasonable risk only "if his psychiatric symptoms were controlled with treatment" — a conditional opinion that left unanswered whether that control was likely. A court-appointed expert, Dr. Montgomery of the Office of Diversion and Reentry, declined to offer any opinion on whether Taylor would pose a risk if he left the unlocked treatment facility, saying she could not "predict the future."
The trial court agreed, reasoning that mental health professionals could not be expected to foresee the future — a rationale the appeals court rejected.
"The obligation to determine whether a defendant will pose an unreasonable risk of danger to the public if granted diversion necessarily includes determining whether the defendant will abandon treatment," the court wrote.
The record showed significant evidence of prior noncompliance. Taylor's sister told investigators he repeatedly signed himself out of mental health facilities in Louisiana within 24 hours of admission. Records showed he refused prescribed medication on multiple occasions. By his own account to Dr. Campbell, he was discharged from a psychiatric facility shortly before the March 2023 alleged offenses, failed to follow treatment recommendations and was using methamphetamine and PCP at the time of the attacks.
The court acknowledged the Legislature's strong preference for mental health diversion as an alternative to incarceration but concluded that preference could not override the absence of evidence that Taylor would comply with treatment. The ODR facility where Taylor would have been placed was unlocked, and staff acknowledged they could not prevent him from leaving, with court notification required only within 72 hours of an absence.
Taylor was given diversion after a violent attack left a man permanently disabled. Prosecutors allege that on the morning of March 3, 2023, Taylor went on a violent, racially motivated rampage targeting multiple Black victims in Santa Monica.
According to the charging documents and court records, Taylor attacked Christian Hornburg while Hornburg was asleep, hitting him over the head with a metal pipe, then stomping on his head while Hornburg lay on the ground. A witness said Taylor shouted a racial slur and stated he was there to attack black residents of the city. When Jade Carter attempted to intervene, Taylor attacked her with the pipe as well, hurling additional racial slurs. All three individuals were part of a homeless encampment located next to the Downtown Santa Monica metro station.
Earlier that morning, Taylor had also threatened a man named Michael Okyere with the pipe before nearby firefighters intervened.
Both Hornburg and Carter were transported to the hospital. Hornburg sustained what prosecutors described as life-altering injuries and has subsequently been confined to a rehabilitation facility.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged Taylor with willful, premeditated and deliberate attempted murder of Hornburg, with special allegations of great bodily injury and a hate crime enhancement, along with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon against the other victims, each carrying hate crime allegations. Taylor pleaded not guilty.
Taylor's defense presented evidence of a significant mental health history, including diagnoses of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder with psychotic features and multiple substance use disorders, and argued that his untreated psychiatric condition was a proximate cause of his behavior.
The trial court granted diversion in 2024, ordering Taylor into residential treatment through the ODR program.
The appellate court's peremptory writ directs the superior court to vacate the diversion order and enter a new order denying Taylor's motion, returning the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
A temporary stay of the diversion order that the appellate court imposed earlier in the proceedings will be vacated once the opinion becomes final, at which point the writ takes effect. Taylor will face the original criminal charges, which include attempted murder with hate crime and great bodily injury allegations — charges that, if he is convicted, could carry significant prison time.