Kaizann Guerrero, a 43-year-old Long Beach man living with schizophrenia, has spent close to a year locked inside a state mental hospital without ever going to trial. He was arrested last August after a small dumpster fire broke out near the supportive housing community where he lived in the city's Washington neighborhood, and he has not been home since.
Guerrero was managing his schizophrenia with prescribed medication and a monthly injection before his arrest, according to the Long Beach Post. He regularly picked up his daughter, Mia, from school and, per his mother, told her he saw smoke near a dumpster and pulled the fire alarm before the incident escalated. Long Beach police say an automatic fire-alarm notification indicated a building sprinkler system extinguished the fire, and that a facility caller described a suspect who allegedly started it, according to police spokesperson Andrea Moran. Officers arrested Guerrero on August 21, 2025, and he was charged with felony arson.
An Arrest That Erased His Housing and Care
Before his arrest, Guerrero lived in permanent supportive housing operated by the Los Angeles County Office of Diversion and Reentry, where he received treatment and services for his schizophrenia, according to the Signal Tribune. That county diversion program, launched in 2016, has redirected more than 3,000 people with serious mental health conditions out of jail and into supportive housing, per research from the RAND Corporation. Once Long Beach police took Guerrero into custody, he was automatically removed from the ODR program, according to Gabriela South Bay, severing the housing and treatment structure that had been keeping him stable.
Guerrero's mother, Karina Guerrero, said officers were aggressive during her son's arrest, and the family reported that his mental state deteriorated after he was hospitalized. The family has attributed his decline in part to changed medication and low-quality food, per the Long Beach Post's reporting. He has experienced weight loss and depression while in custody, and his family says he cannot access the tools he needs to properly treat his condition while confined.
Deemed Too Ill to Stand Trial
Guerrero's fitness concerns triggered a legally mandated mental health assessment, and state-appointed psychologists ultimately deemed him too ill for trial. His public defender announced that she believed he was not mentally fit to proceed. Under California law, a person must understand what is happening in court and be able to assist with their own defense in order to stand trial — defendants also have a constitutional right to a fair trial in which they can participate in their own defense.
A judge reviewed confidential medical reports from the state-appointed psychologists and ordered six more months of treatment for Guerrero, who is currently being held at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk. Under Penal Code Section 1370, as amended by Senate Bill 1187, the maximum time a felony defendant can be committed to a state hospital for competency restoration is capped at two years. If Guerrero cannot be restored to competency within that window, courts may either dismiss the charges or transition his custody to a renewable Murphy Conservatorship under state welfare law if he is found to present a physical danger to others.
Guerrero's family and supporters argue he was managing his illness before police intervened and is now trapped in medical limbo, while state courts and prosecutors remain bound by mandatory competency evaluation rules meant to protect a defendant's right to participate in his own defense before facing felony trial, the Long Beach Post reports. Karina Guerrero said the county's mental healthcare system has failed her son. Felony arson convictions under Penal Code Section 451 carry state prison sentences ranging from 16 months to nine years, depending on whether the fire involved personal property, a structure, or caused bodily injury.
A Yearlong Case Reflecting a Statewide Bottleneck
Guerrero's case fits into a broader pattern documented statewide. A July 2025 report from Disability Rights California found that felony defendants found incompetent to stand trial face systemic delays across the state, with hundreds of people stuck in county jails each month waiting for open beds at state hospitals for competency restoration. Guerrero, at least, is already inside a facility — but his family says nearly a year without resolution still feels like being overlooked. Mia has said her father is being overlooked instead of receiving the medical attention he needs.
Under Senate Bill 317, enacted in 2021, defendants receiving competency restoration treatment in state psychiatric hospitals are entitled to earn pre-sentence conduct credits toward any future sentence, a protection meant to ensure hospitalized patients are not penalized for time spent waiting for treatment. Guerrero talks with his mother almost daily by phone. Karina and William Guerrero, who had planned to retire and move to the Philippines, say they are now worried about funding their son's commissary account so he can afford decent food, and the family is planning a visit with him and Mia next month.
Community Groups Rally for His Release
Community advocates and supporters demonstrated outside the Hollywood Mental Health Court on August 17, calling for Guerrero's release and access to medical care, according to the Filipino Migrant Center. That court, located at 5925 Hollywood Blvd, handles felony incompetent-to-stand-trial proceedings for Los Angeles County. Supporters have also protested outside the Long Beach courthouse and distributed flyers, and both the Filipino Migrant Center and Gabriela South Bay have raised funds for Guerrero's legal defense and made signs and t-shirts supporting him.
Karina and William Guerrero attended a court hearing where a judge was set to decide their son's trial fitness, and Karina has said she wants Kaizann to become the face of change in the court's mental health system — a goal he has agreed to work toward with her. Los Angeles County has begun investing in expanded psychiatric capacity elsewhere in the system: in March, the county broke ground on a $65 million “Care Community” mental health village at Metropolitan State Hospital, converting six vacant buildings into 162 treatment and housing beds using Proposition 1 funds, though that project isn't expected to open until 2027 or 2028. For now, Guerrero remains at the same Norwalk hospital, still waiting for a resolution to a case that has already stretched a year with no trial in sight.
