Appeals court backs DA, says SD judge can be disqualified from mental health cases

The Hall of Justice in downtown San Diego Photo courtesy District Attorney s office A state appeals court panel ruled Wednesday that the San Diego County District Attorney s Office should have been allowed to seek disqualification of a judge who presides over the county s Behavioral Medical Court which deals with defendants who have serious mental illnesses Prosecutors had challenged Judge Cindy Davis over her referrals of defendants to the Behavioral Fitness Court initiative with several of those referrals made over the prosecution s objections Defendants accepted into Behavioral Vitality Court are sentenced to probation rather than custody receive services such as mental wellness recovery and must complete four performance-based phases over the class of at least months Productive completion of the effort leads to a termination of probation and sometimes reduction or expungement of the convictions Wednesday s ruling pertains to two such local defendants Davis referred for BHC screenings including a woman who pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter in connection with the death of her former landlord The District Attorney s Office challenged Davis in those cases arguing that the judge was admitting people into BHC without giving due consideration to the recommendations of mental strength experts Davis declined to recuse herself because she argued BHC proceedings as opposed to a trial don t involve contested issues of facts or law In Wednesday s appellate ruling a three-justice panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal disagreed with Davis and wrote in its ruling that BHC hearings are similar to sentencing hearings which often requires the judge to resolve factual disputes Though BHC is described as a collaborative court made up of a band of various representatives including prosecutors citizens defenders probation officers and mental healthcare professionals the panel exposed that often members of the BHC company object to a person s admission to BHC meaning the judge is ultimately called upon to make a final determination of facts as to whether a defendant should be admitted Wednesday s ruling directs the trial court to enter new orders granting the prosecution s peremptory challenges against Davis