The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office is joining with the California District Attorneys Association to pass the California Legislature’s Assembly Bill 46, common sense legislation aimed at strengthening California’s Mental Health Divorce (MHD) law.
AB 46, sponsored by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office and co-sponsored by district attorneys across the state, including the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, would close significant legal loopholes in California’s mental health diversion law. This bill restores judicial discretion and ensures that diversion programs can provide treatment while still protecting public safety.
Mental health diversion, created under Penal Code §1001.36, was intended to allow individuals with serious mental health conditions to receive treatment in lieu of incarceration when appropriate. However, recent court orders and legal restrictions have significantly limited judges’ ability to deny diversion—even in serious and violent cases—limiting courts’ ability to determine whether diversion is truly appropriate.
Throughout California, there are tragic examples in which individuals who have since converted have committed violent crimes, including murder, attempted murder, rape, and domestic violence. Santa Barbara County has experienced similar cases.
In one local case, a defendant was placed on a mental health diversion after brutally assaulting a 65-year-old developmentally disabled man who was sitting in his walker while crossing the street. After completing the diversion, the same defendant again confronted the victim, ran toward him, hit him in the face with a rock, and stabbed him in the neck. The victim survived but suffered life-threatening injuries.
In addition to limiting judicial discretion, current law allows defendants who have been charged with serious and violent crimes to qualify for mental health diversion. The law is written broadly, and qualifying conditions can include a wide range of mental health issues, including things like depression or alcoholism. Once a defendant presents evidence of qualifying circumstances, deviance is often presumed, leaving courts with limited ability to filter out cases where the underlying behavior poses a significant threat to violence or public safety.
As a result, those charged with serious crimes are increasingly being treated differently regardless of the severity of the crime or concerns raised by victims, prosecutors, or mental health professionals.
An example of such a case involves the public against Nolberto Reyes Hernandez, who was charged with robbery and false imprisonment after entering the West Bank community on Betravia Street in Santa Maria. Hernandez allegedly ordered three bank employees to their knees, handcuffed them behind their backs and fled with the cash. Law enforcement later located Hernandez through a coordinated investigation by the Santa Maria Police Department, the FBI, and the Los Angeles Police Department.
Despite the serious nature of the crime and objections from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, the court granted the defendant’s request for a mental health diversion and ordered his release from custody while he participates in treatment.
The prosecution’s psychological expert concluded that the defendant was “not fit and proper” for diversion. Two bank employees also asked the court to deny the diversion, citing trauma caused by the ongoing robbery.
“The crime the accused committed was not only robbery, but an act of terrorism which shocked me and my colleagues,” an employee told the court. “He forced his way into our workplace – a place where we felt safe – and subjected us to unimaginable terror.”
She described the defendant’s aggression and disregard for the lives and well-being of the victims, explaining that the experience affected her daily life.
“From that day on, I struggled to step into any bank, remembering his violent behavior,” she said. “The fear of him coming back to hurt us keeps me going.”
Another employee told the court the theft would affect the victims for the rest of their lives.
“He destroyed my sense of security. He put me in a position to be responsible for other people’s lives,” she wrote in a statement. “He had this plan because he brought the rope with him to tie us up. If you just look at the knife he has, it’s very unfair.”
District Attorney John T. Savernock stressed that diversion can be an important tool when used appropriately.
“Mental health diversion can be a valuable option for individuals whose criminal behavior is not directly attributable to mental illness and who can safely receive treatment in the community,” Savornoch said. “However, current law limits judges’ ability to consider public safety when making these decisions. Assembly Bill 46 restores the common-sense discretion judges need to ensure that diversion programs provide treatment while still protecting victims and society.”
Under current law, judges have very limited discretion to deny diversion when defendants meet certain legal criteria. Courts—even in cases where there is no clear treatment plan, community safety is at risk, or where plaintiffs have failed prior treatment efforts—are forced by the way the law is written and interpreted by appellate courts. |
Additionally, once a defendant completes mental health diversion, the offense is removed from the defendant’s criminal history, removing accountability for dangerous crimes as if the crime had never been committed. This puts victims, law enforcement and communities at risk if the program is not implemented properly.
AB 46 allows courts to address these concerns by considering whether a defendant poses a substantial and unreasonable risk to the physical safety of another person and whether a proposed treatment plan is clinically appropriate to address the mental health condition that contributed to the crime.
AB 46 will be heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee on March 17. Members of the public can watch the hearing live at 8:30 a.m.: https://spsf.senate.ca.gov/committeehome
Read CDAA’s letter of support here. Visit www.placer.ca.gov/MHD for more information on mental health change
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