Stealth bill sneaks in radical changes to California’s criminal justice system https://t.co/ARwiRINxLd
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) July 7, 2018
The Association of Deputy District Attorneys is sounding the alarm over a measure that was signed into law in California after being hidden in an omnibus health spending bill.
In a startling abuse of the legislative process, a budget clean-up bill has just been used to sneak in radical and never-debated changes in the criminal justice system. It allows a defendant suffering from a mental disorder to be granted pre-trial diversion and the charges later dismissed for any crime if a judge finds the disorder played a significant role in the crime and if a defendant has “substantially complied” with mental health treatment during the diversion period. In short, this new law allows diversion and the dismissal of charges for any crime, including those where a victim was killed or seriously injured.
This massive change in law was slipped into AB 1810, the “Omnibus Health Trailer Budget Bill” for 2018. The purpose of trailer bills is supposed to be to implement provisions in the budget bill, not to write substantive new policy. However, as columnist George Skelton explainedlast year, these trailer bills are “created in the dark without much legislative or public scrutiny” and “mostly used now by Democrats for slipping through touchy new policy.”
Under AB 1810, a defendant charged with any crime can get those charges dismissed if they convince a judge the mental disorder they suffer from played a “major” role in the charged crime; if a mental health expert says the symptoms motivating the criminal behavior would respond to treatment; and if the defendant undergoes “treatment” during a diversion period with no minimum time period and a maximum of two years. Incredibly, only the defense gets to submit a psychiatric report; the prosecution has no opportunity to rebut that report with their own report or have their own expert examine the defendant. Finally, the mental health treatment shall be deemed “satisfactory” and dismissal granted should a defendant “substantially comply” with the diversion conditions and commit no “significant” new crimes while in diversion, although what constitutes “substantial completion” or a “significant” crime is not defined in the bill.
Prosecutors throughout California are sounding the alarm about a provision snuck into the state budget that amounts to get-out-of-jail-free card for ALL CRIMES if a defendant convinces a judge to place them in a temporary mental health treatment program. https://t.co/jnXafhpIEm
— Judge Steven Bailey (Ret.) (@BaileyForAG) July 8, 2018
Why do California lawmakers insist on treating criminals better than law-abiding citizens? #AB1810 #Prop47#Prop57 #SB10 #AB931 https://t.co/qtwcA6lOSB
— Judge Steven Bailey (Ret.) (@BaileyForAG) July 8, 2018
