A psychological well being diversion granted to a former Kern County politician is coming below hearth from quite a few California lawmakers and youngster welfare advocates, who say a repeatedly amended state legislation is permitting an accused youngster abuser to keep away from prosecution and doable jail time.
Zack Scrivner, a former Kern County supervisor, was charged with felony youngster abuse in February after he was accused of inappropriately touching certainly one of his kids in 2024. However due to a Dec. 19 ruling by a decide, he’ll keep away from a trial and as an alternative be funneled right into a psychological well being diversion program — an initiative aimed toward serving to defendants with psychological well being issues get therapy as an alternative of imprisonment for sure crimes.
Whereas supporters say psychological well being diversions assist sure defendants get wanted psychological well being therapy, lawmakers in each events have blasted the Scrivner choice and the legislative adjustments that led to it. Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains (D-Delano) issued a scathing assertion, describing the ruling as an “Epstein loophole,” a reference to convicted youngster intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I focus on household and dependancy medication, so I do know the worth of psychological well being diversion … It was designed to assist folks get therapy and rehabilitation in acceptable instances, to not present an escape hatch to sexually assault kids,” she mentioned. “This Epstein loophole must be closed.”
On the finish of their 2018 legislative session, California lawmakers permitted plenty of authorized reforms, many aimed toward preserving homeless folks out of jail. One in all these altered what defendants may qualify for psychological well being diversions. The change particularly excluded folks accused of crimes akin to homicide, rape and youngster intercourse crime however didn’t exclude these accused of kid abuse. Then, in 2022, one other modification to the legislation directed courts to permit a diversion if a recognized psychological well being dysfunction performed a big position within the alleged crime until there’s “clear and convincing” proof it wasn’t a motivating issue.
Since then, controversies have arisen over a number of judicial choices. In 2024, a decide granted a psychological well being diversion to a Pasadena physician accused of making an attempt to kill his household by driving the household Tesla off a cliff along with his spouse and two kids inside. In Sacramento County, Sheriff Jim Cooper and different officers have criticized a psychological well being diversion granted to a father arrested in reference to the dying of 1-year-old “Child A,” who had suffered from extreme accidents whereas in her father’s custody.
Emergency personnel reply to a car over the aspect of Freeway 1 on Jan. 1, 2023, in San Mateo County. A Pasadena physician, Dharmesh Patel, was charged that 12 months with three counts of tried homicide in crashing the automotive over a cliff, injuring his two younger kids and his spouse. A decide granted him a psychological well being diversion in 2024, permitting him to dwell along with his mother and father whereas receiving therapy.
(Sgt. Brian Moore / Related Press)
“Individuals are turning into very skeptical of psychological well being therapy as a result of it’s being utilized in methods no one ever supposed,” mentioned Matthew Greco, deputy district lawyer of San Diego County and creator of the California Prison Psychological Well being Handbook. The 2022 legislation change restricted the discretion of judges — one purpose the California District Attorneys Assn. opposed it, he mentioned. Greco has since heard from judges throughout the state that they really feel their arms are tied. In San Diego County, the variety of psychological well being diversions granted has steadily risen since 2019.
The 2018 legislation establishing this system had good intentions, he mentioned, however lacked correct legislative vetting.
“We all know the central premise behind psychological well being diversion is that if we receive psychological well being therapy for these which can be mentally unwell which can be committing crimes, the general public shall be safer,” he mentioned. “However we have to have each public security and therapy.”
In Kern County, Scrivner has quite a few political connections within the Republican Celebration and past. He served for 13 years as a county supervisor earlier than resigning in August 2024. He additionally served on the Bakersfield Metropolis Council and had spent 4 years working for former Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Kern County Dist. Atty. Cynthia Zimmer can also be the aunt of Scrivner, and earlier than recusing herself from the case, she performed a key position in alerting legislation enforcement to his actions.
At a information convention in April 2024, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood mentioned he obtained a name from Zimmer that Scrivner was armed and experiencing “some kind of psychotic episode” at his Tehachapi residence. Deputies responded and located that Scrivner had fought along with his kids, with certainly one of them stabbing him in his torso amid allegations that he had sexually assaulted one other of his kids, Youngblood mentioned. Whereas Scrivner’s 4 minor kids had been on the home on the time, his spouse, who had beforehand filed for divorce, was not.
In keeping with Youngblood, detectives obtained a search warrant and ended up seizing 30 firearms, psychedelic mushrooms, digital gadgets and doable proof of sexual assault in the home.
Issues received difficult at that time, provided that Kern County’s district lawyer was obligated to recuse herself and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s workplace took over the case.
In February 2025, Bonta’s workplace charged Scrivner with two felony counts of possessing assault weapons and three felony counts of kid abuse. The fees, nonetheless, didn’t embody sexual assault, though the state’s grievance mentioned Scrivner had “consumed thoughts and/or temper altering medication and substances, received into mattress” with a toddler and inappropriately touched the kid.
On Dec. 19, a Kern County Superior Court docket decide permitted a movement filed by Scrivner’s lawyer, H.A. Sala, to permit the previous county supervisor to enter a psychological well being diversion program. Sala, who has not returned a number of requests for remark, offered the courtroom with a medical analysis performed by medical doctors that Scrivner had been affected by psychological well being issues, together with alcohol-use dysfunction, melancholy and nervousness, in accordance with a report within the Bakersfield Californian. Sala argued {that a} therapy program can be the most suitable choice for Scrivner, consistent with the intent of the Legislature.
ln her ruling, Superior Court docket Decide Stephanie R. Childers sided with Sala, noting the state had “supplied no various” to the medical analysis of Scrivner that had been submitted to the courtroom, in accordance with the Bakersfield Californian.
In response, the state lawyer common’s workplace launched a press release saying that it opposed the decide’s choice and “we’re reviewing our choices.” It added that the workplace filed prices that it believes the state “can show past an inexpensive doubt at trial.” To this point, the Kern County Superior Court docket has declined to launch Scrivner’s lawyer’s movement, stating it’s confidential.
Throughout Scrivner’s Dec. 19 courtroom look, in accordance with the Californian, Deputy Atty. Gen. Joe Penney acknowledged that Scrivner “received into mattress with the minor sufferer — whereas he had alcohol, Ambien, benzos (benzodiazepines) and cocaine metabolites in his system — and fondled her breast space and genital space for a interval about 10 minutes whereas she was frozen in concern.”
State Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) is without doubt one of the lawmakers calling for reform of this system in gentle of Scrivner’s case. She questioned when the state justice system would prioritize weak victims over “the monsters who hurt them.”
“A program supposed to advertise therapy mustn’t ever be allowed to erode accountability for essentially the most critical and violent crimes in opposition to kids,” she mentioned in a press release on-line.
A number of lawmakers have launched payments to switch the psychological well being diversion legislation. In 2024, Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento) was unsuccessful in her try and exclude defendants from qualifying from this system if that they had been charged with youngster abuse and endangerment, home violence that causes nice bodily hurt or human trafficking.
Krell, a former deputy lawyer common, mentioned instances which have stirred outrage appear to be showing in nearly each county, together with in her district.
“We should always be sure that people who find themselves mentally unwell are receiving therapy,” she mentioned, however there needs to be accountability when folks break the legislation as properly. Krell mentioned she intends to attempt to submit the invoice once more. “We have to give courts discretion to make these determinations. We additionally want to verify we’re preserving victims secure. There’s simply too many examples the place this has failed.”
Though some elected officers are looking for reforms to this system, Kern County organizer Flor Olvera mentioned she thinks the main target ought to embody whether or not Scrivner obtained preferential therapy.
“You possibly can have a psychological well being diversion granted, however what’s the justice system doing to carry folks accountable?” she mentioned. “When it’s folks in these highly effective positions, it does seem to be the system strikes in a different way for them.”
In a Dec. 20 assertion, Bains mentioned she despatched a letter asking U.S. Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon and U.S. Atty. Eric Grant to research whether or not Scrivner violated federal civil rights statutes by leveraging his former standing as an elected official.
“This isn’t justice, and this isn’t over,” she mentioned.
In a Dec. 24 interview with radio host Ralph Bailey, Sheriff Youngblood mentioned that deputies arrived at Scrivner’s residence that day in 2024 and confirmed that the county supervisor was unarmed. Scrivner then received on the cellphone and requested the sheriff to ship the deputies away.
“My response was, ‘no, they’re going to do what they need to do,’” he mentioned. A deputy mentioned there was extra to research, and Youngblood supported it. Zimmer, the Kern County district lawyer, didn’t ask for a favor, Youngblood mentioned.
But questions stay as to why deputies didn’t arrest Scrivner instantly. Talking to native media, Youngblood mentioned he had nobody who may arraign the supervisor inside a restricted time-frame, however Kern County prosecutors dispute that. Late Wednesday, the sheriff’s workplace directed inquiries to the state lawyer common’s workplace, after declining to reply to questions over the past week.
Joseph A. Kinzel, the county’s assistant district lawyer, mentioned in an electronic mail that as a result of Scrivner was not arrested that evening, there was no request from legislation enforcement that prices be filed. Kinzel mentioned that the workplace instantly decided it might be inappropriate to get entangled with the case, and that the workplace “did all the things it ought to have to make sure that a conflict-free prosecution would happen.”
Within the radio interview, Youngblood mentioned that he believed the state lawyer common’s workplace “didn’t do their job appropriately” by letting Scrivner keep away from a intercourse crime cost.
“I can solely communicate for the sheriff’s workplace, and I can let you know that the deputies that investigated that did completely the proper factor,” he mentioned. “I consider that the kids had been all on board and would have accomplished precisely what the courtroom requested them to do, and that’s, inform the reality. So from my standpoint, this stinks.”
