
Quoting
flyingron
You're not going to get a public defender for this. You will only get to the bottom of this with a paid attorney. I'm not seeing anything in this story as related that indicates this was a voluntary hospitalization. While California only imposes a 5 year ban, the feds will consider this a lifetime bar. What you were "aware" of is entirely immaterial here. I can't find any indication of the case you mention, but anything that applies to New York state has no real bearing on the feds (which is where your problem lies).
5150 and 5250 refer to California's Welfare and Institutions Code sections on involuntary psychiatric holds.