In re Sims


Filed 9/14/18 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION TWO In re KAREN SIMS, E069440 on Habeas Corpus. (Super.Ct.No. BLF003752) OPINION ORIGINAL PROCEEDINGS; petition for writ of habeas corpus. Charles Everett Stafford, Jr., and Richard A. Erwood, Judges. Petition granted. Michaela R. Dalton for Petitioner. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Michael Pulos and Teresa Torreblanca, Deputy Attorneys General, for Respondent. Defendant and petitioner Karen Sims, a former attorney with serious mental illness of longstanding, was convicted of murdering her husband Henry Sims in 2006 and was sentenced to prison for a term of 50 years to life. After her conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal in 2008, she petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in the California Supreme Court in 2011, claiming her conviction was invalid because she was incompetent to stand trial. That petition was ultimately denied after an order to show 1 cause (OSC) had been issued, returnable in the Riverside County Superior Court. In 2016, she filed another petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court on the same ground, with additional information about her postconviction mental health problems as they related to timeliness. The California Supreme Court again issued an OSC returnable to this court. We grant the petition. BACKGROUND1 Defendant has a history of mental illness that includes at least one prior hospitalization lasting two years and had manifested itself in violent knife assaults against her husband and her daughter while the family lived in Colorado. After being released from an extended psychiatric hospitalization in Colorado, the family moved to California where defendant practiced immigration law. (People v. Sims, supra, E042064.) In 2005, when defendant’s daughter was home from medical school for the summer, defendant was behaving combatively and secretively, refusing to take her medication. She was suspicious of conspiracies, convinced that she was God’s daughter fighting demons, or the daughter of an alien fighting some sort of intergalactic war on earth. She accused her husband of adultery, occult practices, and devil worship. Defendant also accused her husband of carrying on with prostitutes and drugging her at night. She also behaved erratically with her office staff and clients, and sometimes missed court appearances. (People v. Sims, supra, E042064.) 1 Portions of the background are taken from this court’s opinion in the direct appeal. (People v. Sims (Nov. 17, 2008, E042064) [nonpub. opn.].) 2 Things came to a head in September 2005, when there was an incident at Lake Evans in Riverside. After the incident, defendant and her husband drove to Blythe, where defendant shot her husband several times, killing him. (People v. Sims, supra, E042064.) A complaint was filed, charging defendant with murder and two firearm enhancements. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a); 12022.5, subd. (a); 12022.53, subd. (d).) On September 29, 2005, the trial court appointed a medical examiner, Dr. Kania, to evaluate defendant, based upon her first appointed counsel declaring a doubt as ...

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