San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow Urges Immediate Passage of AB 46 to Protect Crime Victims and Restore Judicial Discretion
Author: District Attorney
Date: 3/12/2026 11:42 AM
District Attorneys and law enforcement professionals are urging people across the State of California to immediately contact their elected State Assemblymember and State Senator to fix mental health diversion by passing Assembly Bill 46.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA — San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow, who also serves as President of the California District Attorneys Association, is calling on the Legislature to urgently fix California’s broken mental health diversion law by passing Assembly Bill 46 before more innocent people are harmed. AB 46 closes dangerous loopholes in Penal Code section 1001.36 by restoring judges’ discretion to deny diversion to violent and high‑risk offenders while still ensuring meaningful treatment for those who truly suffer from mental illness.
“Victims of violent crime in California deserve to be protected by our laws, not placed in greater danger because those laws are written in a way that forces judges to release dangerous offenders back into our neighborhoods,” said District Attorney Dan Dow. “Right now, the mental health diversion statute ties the hands of judges, strips them of common-sense discretion, and allows individuals who commit serious and violent crimes—including domestic violence, home invasions, and assaults—to avoid accountability and reoffend. We must fix this law before another victim pays the ultimate price.”
Mental health diversion under Penal Code section 1001.36 was intended to offer treatment instead of incarceration to individuals whose mental illness significantly contributed to their criminal behavior. However, court rulings and statutory limitations now require judges to grant diversion once certain criteria are met, even in serious and violent cases, leaving courts with very limited authority to deny diversion based on community safety, prior failures in treatment, or the absence of a viable treatment plan. When a defendant successfully completes diversion, the crime is removed from their record, erasing accountability and endangering victims, law enforcement, and the public if the person reoffends.
Assembly Bill 46 would allow courts to consider whether or not a defendant poses a substantial and undue risk to the physical safety of others and whether the proposed treatment plan is clinically appropriate to address the mental health condition that contributed to the offense. “Diversion should be a carefully monitored path to treatment, not a loophole that gives dangerous offenders a free pass and leaves victims feeling abandoned by the system that promised to protect them,” Dow said.
“As a concerned prosecutor and as President of the California District Attorneys Association, I am sounding the alarm: we cannot wait for another murder, another brutal domestic violence assault, or another devastating home invasion committed by someone who should never have been granted diversion in the first place,” Dow continued. “The Legislature has a moral obligation to act now and fix this statute so that judges can protect our communities and honor the rights and safety of crime victims.”
Call to Action
District Attorney Dow is urging all Californians who care about public safety and victims’ rights to act immediately.
• Contact your State Assemblymember today and demand a YES vote on AB 46.• Contact your State Senator today and demand a YES vote on AB 46.
Tell them you support restoring judicial discretion, protecting victims, and closing the dangerous loopholes in California’s mental health diversion law before another preventable violent crime occurs.
You can find your elected representatives quickly by using the “Find Your Rep” tools on the California Legislature’s official websites. Visit www.assembly.ca.gov and click on “Find My Representative” to locate your State Assemblymember, and visit www.senate.ca.gov and click on “Find My Senator” to locate your State Senator, then call, email, or use their online contact form today to urge them to vote YES on AB 46.
RECENT SHOCKING EXAMPLES:
The necessity justifying the need for a new dangerousness standard proposed by this legislation are set forth in reports from all over the state where defendants who had been granted mental health diversion have subsequently committed violent crimes including murder. Here are just a few recent examples:
— In Sacramento County, a defendant is charged with the stabbing murder of a 40-year-old man, having been released on a grant of mental health diversion for two violent robberies he committed in 2024.
— In Fresno County, a defendant is charged with attempted murder of an employee of a car dealership in a random stabbing attack. The defendant had previously stabbed a 63-year-old homeless woman in the neck at a grocery store and, when released, committed two other crimes involving an assault and burglary for which he was granted mental health diversion.
— In Stanislaus County, a man who was on mental health diversion (out of Santa Clara County) for a carjacking of an elderly woman, used his car to strike and kill his girlfriend, who was also the victim in his four pending misdemeanor domestic violence cases.
— Several examples occurred in Santa Clara County where in one case, a woman carjacked an elderly man, dragging him alongside the car, then rammed that same vehicle into her boyfriend when they argued, then ten minutes later rammed the vehicle twice into one victim as he was eating at a restaurant outside, killing him. She was on mental health diversion for carjacking at the time. In another case, a defendant who was on mental health diversion for carjacking an elderly woman and juvenile was arrested for viciously beating two individuals on two separate occasions at a Light Rail Station platform. One of those victims died as a result of his injuries. In a third case, a defendant while on mental health diversion stabbed four people multiple times, stole one of his stabbing victim’s car with which he hit four other victims and ran over three other pedestrians, two of which were pronounced dead at the scene. And in a fourth case, a defendant, while on several grants of mental health diversion, stabbed to death his six-year-old grandson and also his niece.
— In Butte County, a defendant was on active mental health diversion for felony assault on a police officer when he shot his neighbor to death. His neighbor’s body was found riddled with bullets in the middle of the street in front of the defendant’s residence. The defendant fled and later was found with a ghost gun in his possession. Behavioral Health had reported defendant was compliant with medication and had been doing “excellent” on his program. Defendant’s roommate when interviewed indicated that in fact the defendant had been acting oddly for weeks and had been off his medications for an extended time. He has since been committed to the state hospital as a “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” disposition.
— In Placer County, a man is charged with murder while on mental health diversion in Sacramento for a case where he had beaten up his elderly neighbor. This same defendant had previously been convicted of murder in Nevada.
— In Santa Barbara County, a defendant was placed on mental health diversion for beating up a 65-year-old developmentally disabled man who was seated on his walker waiting for a signal change to cross a road. After he completed mental health diversion, the defendant saw the same victim walking down the street, ran up to the victim, struck him in the face with a rock, then stabbed him with a knife in the neck. The victim was rushed to the hospital for his nearly fatal injuries.
— In Los Angeles County, a man after serving seven years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury was charged with attempted murder for stabbing a passerby with a machete without provocation. After an Orange County court granted mental health diversion for that crime, he absconded from his treatment program and stabbed another bystander 34 times with a box cutter in front of a 7-Eleven.
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