BAKERSFIELD — A challenge to the mental health diversion program granted to former Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner is still pending and awaiting a judge’s decision.
Following a formatting error on the initial petition, the California Attorney General’s Office resubmitted a petition for a writ of mandate challenging the Kern County Superior Court’s Dec. 11 ruling granting Scrivner a mental health program.
On Thursday, the clerk of the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno said the AG’s office application was under review by a judge, but there was no timeframe in which a response could be expected.
Scrivner is accused of inappropriately touching one of his children while high on drugs during an incident at his Tehachapi home in April 2024. Scrivner’s attorney, H.A. Sala, has long said the charges can’t be proved.
Sala told The Californian on Wednesday the petition had been rejected, but the AG’s office confirmed that the initial submission contained a formatting error and the complaint had been resubmitted.
The petition focused not on the felony child endangerment charges, but rather on the two felony weapons charges that had been filed. According to the petition — much of which is redacted — Scrivner’s mental health issues did not contribute to the weapons offenses.
If Scrivner was ineligible for a mental health diversion program on those counts, the petition said, then he should be ineligible on all counts.
“The clear and convincing evidence — including defendant’s own mental health evaluation — establishes that the mental health disorders had no relationship to the assault weapon offenses,” the petition said.
“So long as an accusatory pleading includes ineligible offenses, diversion should be denied as to any component charge of that pleading. Put differently, diversion should not be granted in a case which includes any charges that are ineligible for diversion.”
On Wednesday, Sala called that interpretation “nonsense” and said it was significant the state was not challenging that mental health was a contributing factor in the child endangerment charges.