Ronald Owen Kaye

In People v. Michael Taylor (XNEGA111132-01), Judge Ronald Owen Kaye presided over a cascade of judicial actions that may represent a profound miscarriage of justice in Los Angeles mental health court. Central to the controversy is a PC 730 competency assessment by Dr. Pietro D’Ingillo, conducted before any formal doubt was declared and in violation of a standing mental health diversion order. Despite procedural defects—including misfiling by Kaye’s own clerk, ex parte conflict declarations denying counsel, and reliance on privileged communications—the evaluation was used to justify revocation of bail, involuntary commitment, forced medication, and disenfranchisement. Taylor’s case exposes a stark contrast between Kaye’s celebrated public image as a reform-minded judge and the reality of courtroom decisions that undermined due process, attorney-client privilege, and the rights of a vulnerable defendant. This article examines how these actions challenge the integrity of mental health court proceedings and raises urgent questions about accountability, transparency, and judicial discretion in cases affecting indigent defendants.

Judge Ronald Owen Kaye #145051 continued and deepened the constitutional violations initiated under Judge Suzette Louise Clover. Rather than rectifying the procedural fraud, Judge Kaye facilitated and operationalized it. On my first appearance in Department 213 at the Hollywood Courthouse, he directed Judicial Assistant Mery Alaberkayn—a clerk not listed on the official minute order but tied to my prior defense team through shared academic affiliations—to publicly file a forensic report authored by Dr. D’Ingillo. This report was originally authorized under a sealed PC 1001.36 order and never intended for a PC 1368 proceeding. The act of publicly filing it served no lawful purpose except to fabricate the appearance of jurisdiction, which had already been forfeited by Judge Clover’s own suspension of proceedings.