Dharmesh Patel argues that his major depressive disorder should merit his case being heard in Mental Health Diversion Court rather than criminal court.
Our son has schizoaffective disorder with depressive episodes. He was arrested in L.A. for breaking windows, jailed, found competent and released pending a court date. Things did not go well.
Public defenders, prosecuting attorneys and judges in L.A. work together to order treatment instead of incarceration for defendants whose crimes arise from mental illness.
(Image by miami car accident lawyers from Pixabay via Courthouse News)
(CN) Judge Maria Lucy Armendariz never told her story to anyone before she was elected to the Los Angeles Superior Court bench in 2018.
“Childhood for me was hardly idyllic,” Armendariz said as she recalled growing up in East Los Angeles with a mother sentenced to life in prison when she was just eight years old. Armendariz was raised in foster homes, and as she grew closer to aging out of the system, she knew she needed a plan. “Back in those days they would just kick you out at age 18 so I knew early on that I had to figure out what I was going to do with my life,” she said.