BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 The decision to grant former Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner mental health diversion continues to draw sharp criticism from local and state officials, with some calling for federal intervention in a case that could allow Scrivner to avoid jail time.<\/p>\n
A judge ruled Friday that Scrivner qualifies for mental health diversion under state law, a decision that pauses criminal proceedings as long as he remains in compliance with court-ordered treatment and conditions. If successful, the charges against him could ultimately be dismissed.<\/p>\n
The ruling comes nearly a year after an April 23, 2024 incident at Scrivner\u2019s Tehachapi home, where sheriff\u2019s deputies were called to investigate allegations that Scrivner sexually molested his child while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, according to Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at what the attorney general articulated in the charging documents, they articulated a sex crime and then didn\u2019t charge him with that,\u201d Youngblood said.<\/p>\n
Youngblood said his department conducted a thorough investigation but faced immediate legal hurdles because of a conflict of interest involving Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer, who is Scrivner\u2019s aunt. Because of that conflict, sheriff\u2019s officials were unable to immediately charge or arraign Scrivner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had 48 hours to get him arraigned. We couldn\u2019t do that,\u201d Youngblood said. \u201cWe called the attorney general, and then the attorney general refused to handle the case. We went a week without anybody able to arraign him and the attorney general finally succumbed to the request and said, \u2018Okay.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The California Attorney General\u2019s Office eventually took over the case and, after several months, charged Scrivner in February with two felony counts of illegal possession of assault rifles and three felony counts of child endangerment. No sex crime charges were filed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my opinion, the reason they didn\u2019t charge him with that is because they knew they couldn\u2019t divert that down the road,\u201d Youngblood said.<\/p>\n
Reaction to the court\u2019s ruling was swift. Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and U.S. Attorney Eric Grant, requesting federal intervention. In the letter, Bains described the ruling as an \u201cEpstein loophole\u201d and part of what she called a disturbing pattern in which individuals accused of harming children receive preferential treatment.<\/p>\n
State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, also criticized the decision, writing online that it was \u201coutrageous that a defendant\u2019s claim of \u2018depression, anxiety, and alcohol use\u2019 can be used to justify diversion and potentially allow him to avoid jail time for the sexual assault of a child.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA program intended to promote treatment must never be allowed to erode accountability for the most serious and violent crimes against children,\u201d Grove wrote.<\/p>\n
Youngblood said responsibility for the outcome ultimately rests with prosecutors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s right in the lap of the attorney general,\u201d he said. \u201cI found those arguments in court pretty incomplete. H.A. Sala ran over the top of him \u2014 he\u2019s a very good attorney and did a very good job for his client. But this all stems from the initial charging documents. At the end of the day, they reduced the charges in the beginning so that they could get to diversion \u2014 and of course, that\u2019s my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
A status hearing is scheduled for January. Scrivner must remain in full compliance with the court\u2019s conditions for mental health diversion in order for the charges against him to be dismissed.<\/p>\n
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime<\/b>, Anywhere<\/b>:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 The decision to grant former Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner mental health diversion continues…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":467778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[57253,57254,210,57255,517,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-467777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-bakersfield-downtown","9":"tag-bakersfield-news","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-kern-county-news","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115771799357161015","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}