What is the test for a trial judge to proceed with the trial of a defendant under section 1368 of the California Mental Health Act if the trial judge receives the reports of two psychiatrists?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Westbrook, 37 Cal.Rptr. 420 (Cal. App. 1964):

In Merkouris, as here, the trial judge, after receiving these reports proceeded with the trial. 'The trial court's appointment * * * of two psychiatrists to examine defendant and report to the court, and its continuance of the matter, do not indicate that the court had a doubt as to defendant's sanity.' (People v. Merkouris, supra, 52 Cal.2d 672, 680, 344 P.2d 1, 5.)

The 'doubt' to which section 1368 refers is 'one that must arise in the mind of the trial judge, rather than in the mind of counsel for the defendant or in that of any third person.' (People v. Perry (1939) 14 Cal.2d 387, 399, 94 P.2d 559, 565, 124 A.L.R. 1123.) The rule in California has been summarized as follows:

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