Oakland – Presiding judge Armando Pastran Jr. ruled during Tuesday’s commitment hearing that alleged Laney College shooter, Cedric Irving Jr., be “involuntarily medicated” to regain his mental competency. Pastran also made the official ruling to send Irving to a California Department of State Hospitals facility.
It remains unclear which facility Irving will be sent to.
Pastran stated that Irving will receive treatment from the California Department of State Hospitals for two years and appear in court for progress reports every 90 days. During his treatment, he will receive “antipsychotic” medication.
Public defender Sydney Bird Levin argued that, under the state and federal constitutions, Irving has the right to refuse medical treatment. Levin also said that, of the three competency evaluations Irving had, none included a medication consultation.
The court ordered Irving’s involuntary medication under California Penal Code 1370, after Pastran found that the original alienists’ reports and subsequent addendum provided “sufficient basis” for the order. One evaluator concluded that Irving “lacks the capacity” to make a decision about his medicated treatment.
Pastran said that another report described Irving as a real threat to inflict “physical harm to himself or others.”
During the previous hearing, London revealed that one evaluator said Irving “got into a fight” with his cellmate in December and that Irving believed that his cellmate was “possessed” by former Laney athletic director, John Beam.
The Citizen reached out to the Beam family for comment on today’s hearing, but they declined.
Key details about the case so far
Beam was fatally shot on Nov. 13, 2025 at the Laney Fieldhouse and was pronounced dead the following morning. According to his autopsy report, Beam was shot “after a brief altercation.”
The nature of the altercation, in addition to other details surrounding the shooting, are still unclear.
Irving faces arrest charges and sentence enhancements for murder and has been in custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA.
Court records show Irving was evaluated for his mental competency to proceed to trial by three alienists and was ruled mentally incompetent on April 17.
Regaining mental competency at a state hospital
According to the Department of State Hospitals website, treatment for Irving may consist of educating him on his criminal proceedings, including “what [he is] charged with, the pleas available, the elements of a plea bargain, the roles of the officers of the court, the role of evidence in a trial, and [his] constitutional protections.”
He will then participate in a knowledge test of the criminal proceedings, followed by a mock trial.
During his treatment, another competency evaluation can happen at any point. If he passes, a forensic report will be sent to the court stating that he is competent to stand trial.
If, after two years of treatment, he is unable to gain competency, Irving may be placed into state conservatorship.
The Department of State Hospitals reported 275 “incompetent to stand trial” individuals waiting to be placed at a state hospital as of the 2026-2027 Governor’s Budget. The Department of State Hospitals wrote in a Senate Budget review in April that it “does not anticipate the waitlist to decrease further,” as they received an average of 469 referrals per month between 2024-2025.
Updates to Irving’s transportation to a state hospital will be provided at his next hearing on June 5 at 9 a.m. at the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland, CA.
