SANTA MONICA—On Tuesday, September 30, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that the California Court of Appeal granted a petition to overturn a Superior Court ruling that allowed mental health diversion for a man accused of a vicious, racially charged assault in Santa Monica.
Job Uriah Taylor, 27, was arrested on March 3, 2023, after allegedly using a metal pipe to beat a man in an encampment adjacent to the 5th Street Expo station in Santa Monica. The unprovoked attack was the third of three assaults Taylor is accused of committing within the span of an hour.
Two of Taylor’s victims were hospitalized. Christian Hornburg, 64, was beaten with a pipe, and survived, but was severely injured with life-altering injuries.
The first attack transpired on the 1100 block of the beach. The suspect approached a man who was walking his dog. Taylor threatened him with a metal pipe and started yelling racial slurs at him.
Officers nearby and working on a separate project, overheard the attack and intervened. The suspect rode away on his bicycle in an unknown direction. The victim in this attack was not injured.
At around 7:50 a.m., another incident transpired on the north side of the train platform at 4th Street and Colorado Avenue. Taylor was seen attacking a male and female with the same pipe he used to threaten the first victim. While he was beating the victims in the head with the pipe he could be heard yelling racial slurs at them both.
Taylor was charged with attempted murder, three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon (not a firearm), and one felony to count of assault with a deadly weapon with force resulting in great bodily injury. The charges include a hate crime enhancement, as Taylor was heard shouting racial slurs at his victims during the attacks. Following his arrest, the defendant claimed he had been sent to Santa Monica to target Black residents.
On March 12, 2025, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lana Kim granted Taylor entry into the County’s mental health diversion program instead of allowing the case to proceed to trial, where he faced a potential life sentence. The District Attorney’s Office appealed that ruling, arguing that Taylor posed an unreasonable risk to public safety.
In announcing their decision, the Court of Appeal agreed, emphasizing that Taylor’s history of abandoning treatment, had just been released from a psychiatric facility before committing the attacks, and presented an ongoing danger to the community. The Court found that there was no evidence he would follow through with voluntary treatment if granted diversion.
He will now face trial on the original charges, including attempted murder with a hate crime enhancement. Further proceedings/pretrial conference for this case are set for December 18, 2025, in Department 71 of the Airport Courthouse. If convicted as charged, he faces life in prison.
Case SA107988 is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Steve Dickman of the Hate Crimes Unit and is being investigated by the Santa Monica Police Department.
By Danny Jones