Actor and comedian Faizon Love will avoid trial for now, after a San Diego judge granted his request to enter a mental health diversion program Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Superior Court Judge Albert T. Harutunian III approved two years of diversion, allowing Love to continue receiving mental health treatment instead of facing an immediate criminal trial.<\/p>\n
Love was charged with felony assault, accused of ripping a credit card reader off its mount in August 2024, and throwing it at a Mission Valley hotel clerk.<\/p>\n
Love’s jury trial had been scheduled to begin next week. That trial date has now been canceled.<\/p>\n
During Wednesday’s hearing, Love’s public defender, Marc Kligman, argued that his client has been receiving treatment and making progress since voluntarily seeking mental health care in 2025. His diagnosis was not revealed publicly during the hearing.<\/p>\n
Kligman told the judge that Love has been seeing one of his treatment providers for approximately a year and a half and has remained out of custody without further issues. He argued that Love’s diagnosis contributed to the alleged offense and that treatment has already proven effective.<\/p>\n
“There really isn’t a leg for the prosecution to stand on,” Kligman said, referring to the prosecution’s challenge to the connection between Love’s diagnosis and the alleged crime.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors disagreed, arguing that Love has a history of confrontational behavior dating back years before the mental health issues cited by his defense. The prosecutor pointed to incidents dating back to 2002, describing Love as someone with a “short fuse” and a tendency toward hostility. She also questioned whether Love’s current treatment plan was sufficient, arguing that he needed more frequent appointments and anger management.<\/p>\n
Before hearing arguments on diversion, the judge denied a prosecution request to have Love undergo a separate, face-to-face psychiatric evaluation by an expert retained by the court. The defense had already submitted evaluations from its own providers.<\/p>\n
Judge questions California’s mental health diversion law<\/p>\n
Before announcing his decision, Harutunian expressed concerns about California’s mental health diversion law, which allows certain criminal defendants with qualifying mental health disorders to receive treatment rather than proceed through traditional criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n
The judge said the legislature has repeatedly expanded the law to make diversion available to more defendants, even when doing so could pose risks to public safety.<\/p>\n
“It’s a policy decision I disagree with,” Harutunian said. “I think it values public safety too low.”<\/p>\n
But the judge emphasized that his personal disagreement with the law could not determine his ruling.<\/p>\n
“I think the legislature has the right to make that policy decision. And it’s my job to follow that policy,” he said.<\/p>\n
Harutunian said the law creates a presumption that a qualifying mental health disorder contributed to a defendant’s alleged offense, unless prosecutors can overcome that presumption with clear and convincing evidence.<\/p>\n
He concluded prosecutors had not met that burden in Love’s case.<\/p>\n
The judge also found that Love had a qualifying diagnosis and that his treatment plan could be adjusted as needed during diversion.<\/p>\n
What happens next for Faizon Love?<\/p>\n
Under the judge’s order, Love must continue attending mental health counseling sessions at least twice a month, complete a 12-hour anger management course and consult with a psychiatrist to determine whether medication is appropriate.<\/p>\n
Love must also stay away from the Sheraton hotel in Mission Valley and its employees.<\/p>\n
The judge ordered Love to return to court in January for a progress review, although he will be permitted to appear remotely by video.<\/p>\n
Under California’s mental health diversion law, criminal proceedings are postponed while a defendant participates in a court-approved treatment program. If the defendant successfully completes diversion, the court generally dismisses the charges. If diversion is terminated, criminal proceedings can resume.<\/p>\n
Love’s diversion period will last two years.<\/p>\n
The actor is known for his roles in the films Friday, Elf and Couples Retreat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor and comedian Faizon Love will avoid trial for now, after a San Diego judge granted his request…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3552,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-503867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-crime-and-courts","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503867","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=503867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}