{"id":444573,"date":"2026-08-27T00:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/444573\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T00:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T00:32:09","slug":"dustin-crawford-secures-attorney-before-fresno-arraignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/444573\/","title":{"rendered":"Dustin Crawford secures attorney before Fresno arraignment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The brother of the Fresno man accused of stabbing a Fresno County prosecutor<\/a> last week disputes the attack was targeted, saying the suspect is mentally ill and has bad eyesight.<\/p>\n

Dustin Crawford, 42, is charged with several felonies and enhancements, including assault on a public official, attempted murder of a public official, causing great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon.<\/p>\n

If convicted on all charges, he faces a life sentence.<\/p>\n

Crawford was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday but was unable to secure an attorney until Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Fresno County public defender, contracted legal firm Fitzgerald, Alvarez & Ciummo and the Alternative Defense Office each declined to take on the case, citing a conflict.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, private defense attorney Yan Schrayberman of Fresno was appointed by the court to represent Crawford. Schrayberman was granted a continuation until Sept. 9.<\/p>\n

Since the Aug. 20 attack, the legal community that frequents the Fresno County Courthouse has been on edge. Several deputies can be seen in the area, providing added security.<\/p>\n

Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni and District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp have said the stabbing was targeted<\/a> and serves as an example of the failure of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature to implement criminal justice reform.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp and Sheriff John Zanoni provide an update on the Aug. 20 stabbing of a senior deputy district attorney. Robert Rodriguez <\/p>\n

Family members of Crawford\u2019s who attended both recent hearings dispute the theory that the attack was targeted.<\/p>\n

Clad in a yellow jail jumpsuit, reserved for high-risk inmates, Crawford entered the courtroom to more than a dozen prosecutors and investigators with the Fresno County District Attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Also present were Crawford\u2019s older brother David and his aunt, who sat in the front row. They were hoping he saw them, but it didn\u2019t appear he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked right past us,\u201d David Crawford said.<\/p>\n

He also said that while he sympathizes with the family of the prosecutor, he does not believe his brother singled out the victim for any specific reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother has mental illness and he\u2019s had it for years. He hears voices in his head,\u201d David Crawford said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t know that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smittcamp has said the suspect knew the prosecutor from a 2016 case when Crawford was charged with attacking someone with a knife, resisting arrest, and battery on a police officer.<\/p>\n

But David Crawford said that his brother is extremely nearsighted and does not wear his glasses. He said it is likely he didn\u2019t know who he was confronting.<\/p>\n

Until a few months ago, Dustin Crawford was living with his mother. He has medication for his mental illness symptoms but didn\u2019t always take it, his brother said.<\/p>\n

After a few weeks, Crawford\u2019s mother grew afraid of her son\u2019s erratic, sometimes violent behavior and secured a restraining order against him. She called the Sheriff\u2019s Office at least seven times, David Crawford said.<\/p>\n

Dustin Crawford remains in the Fresno County Jail.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published August 26, 2026 at 4:39 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Robert Rodriguez<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

A Valley native, Robert has worked at The Fresno Bee since 1994, covering various topics including education, business, courts and agriculture.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brother of the Fresno man accused of stabbing a Fresno County prosecutor last week disputes the attack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-444573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}