What Can I Do to Get Mental Health Diversion? San Diego Criminal Defense Attorney Explains

San Diego criminal defense attorney David P. Shapiro shares a story how a former client was able to make effective use of the time between court appearances to alleviate any concerns he would not be an ideal candidate for mental health diversion.
Law Office of David P. Shapiro 3500 5th Avenue #304 San Diego, CA 92103 www.davidpshap...
- Hi, my name is David P. Shapiro. I'm the owner and managing partner of the Law Office of David P. Shapiro, located in San Diego, California, where my firm helps good people regain control of their future when charged with a crime. This video, I want to talk to you about some things you could be doing if you believe your case or if your attorney is talking to you about mental health diversion, and some ways you can make effective use of the time between, you know, the allegation surfacing, your first court date, your second court date, your third court date, especially if you're out of custody. Okay, we had a situation recently in the fall of 2022 that started way back in the early days of COVID in the spring of 2020. We're happy to report that in October of 2022, our client's mental health diversion was not only granted in 2021, deemed satisfied in October of '22, and the entire case dismissed. That entire case involved three strikes in one case, okay? Just to be clear, we're not saying he was facing life imprisonment, but he was facing three strikes under California's Three Strikes law in one case. So, if he was convicted of that, his next strike, if he had one, could've subjected him to the Three Strikes law in California. So, this was a situation where this client had two separate instances over about a month span. One involving, you know, threatening an employee and throwing an item at them, what the law refers to as a deadly weapon. And then the other incident involved an attempted robbery of what was, you know, like a cup from Starbucks and then resisting law enforcement by force. And the general facts of the case, specifically when the client was ultimately arrested, was found himself in a situation where he was going through a tough time mentally and was really struggling with his mental health. Was not getting the help that he ultimately got in the future that he was able to turn his life around. And, you know, he's going through a real bad episode and he has an incident at a Starbucks and is walking across to a nearby gas station. And the cops roll up on him because they think this guy's dangerous, right? And he's certainly unstable. And law enforcement, instead of utilizing what their training should be when someone's having a psychiatric or psychological emergency, they engage him. They get aggressive with him with his tone, with their language, with their body posturing. And he's like, "I'm out. I'm just walking away." And ultimately, winds up getting tackled. And that's the basis for what they charge him with, for resisting arrest by force. He's literally on the ground within seconds from when he walks away. You know, the police reports talking about how he charged towards them. Well, you know, there's a good thing called a body-worn camera that sort of refuted that really quickly. You know, and then talking about how it was a struggle, which wasn't necessarily validated by the body-worn camera, everything that goes with it. Well, very serious charges, right? Putting aside the offensively inflated assertion by the cops that this was some big struggle to get him on the ground and, you know, with force and all this nonsense. The other allegations were validated. The other allegations were, you know, in all likelihood, if the witnesses were believed could have been proven true at a case at trial beyond a reasonable doubt, that was certainly a risk. And, you know, client's facing serious issues. Serious issues both in court and serious issues with his mental health. Again, this goes back to 2020. You know, this was a time when the courts in San Diego were down. You were bailing out of custody. You weren't having your first court date for a very long time. Significant months went by, and we executed a plan in place. We put a plan in place. And then the client, to his credit, and to his family's credit, executed that plan beautifully. Proactively sought out mental health, was under the care of a psychologist, was under the care of a psychiatrist. Was getting the appropriate medication, was staying out of trouble, and really turned his life around while this case was going on. And then we were able to file a mental health diversion motion. And the hope always of a mental health diversion motion is if certain elements are met under the law, you would be able to get the case dismissed without ever having to be convicted of anything, without ever having to have to plead guilty to anything.
::Truncated::

[@noahhudnut1643]

Great video.

[@a.j.queenhealer4523]

I got a DUI from CHP. I have a diagnosis. My attorney has NOT tried to help me with this option. Stating I don't qualify. Even though all my providers submitted documentation on my behalf. Why am I different???

[@jairtzinio]

My Friend is eligible for the death penalty, he is schizoaffective and was in psychosis when the incident occured. I'm trying to get his public defender to push for mental health diversion but it doesn't seem like they're even trying. Is there any way that i can do that myself?

[@minhphung9252]

What if a person is in custody?