Ukiah woman gets 8 years in prison
DA: 34-year-old hit police officer with large rock
A Ukiah woman was sentenced to eight years in state prison this month for hitting a police officer in the face with a large rock, the Mendocino County District Attorney reported.
According to the office of District Attorney David Eyster, Rachael D. Seivertson, 34, formerly of the Ukiah area, was sentenced Sept. 20 in Mendocino County Superior Court to 96 months (eight years) in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Eyster described this month's sentence as “Seivertson's second commitment to state prison, (and) in her latest 2023 case, while under state parole supervision, (the defendant) committed and was convicted by felony plea of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and resisting an executive officer by means of violence.”
In May of 2023, the UPD reported that Seivertson was arrested after hitting an officer in the face with a large rock, which was described as “(weighing) approximately eight pounds and about the size of a football.” After being transported to the emergency room at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley, the officer was given six stitches for the laceration to his upper lip.
The officer had responded to the intersection of West Perkins and South School streets shortly before 8 a.m. May 23 for a report of someone causing a disturbance. Once at the scene he contacted a woman whom he recognized from “numerous prior contacts (who was described as) a known transient in Ukiah on parole for robbery.”
The officer described the woman's behavior as “erratic” and that she appeared to be “under the influence of a stimulant, most likely methamphetamine.” While the officer was trying to speak with Seivertson, she reportedly got up and
tried to walk away. When the officer followed her, she reportedly “quickly stopped, bent over and picked up a large rock … then quickly spun around and threw the rock into the officer's face,” hitting his lip. She then “continued to punch the officer on the face.” While reportedly “bleeding heavily,” the officer “wrestled” the suspect to the ground and put her in handcuffs.
Eyster explains that dur- ing her sentencing this month, Seivertson “also admitted as true two sen- tencing allegations that (1) she used a hefty rock to inflict injury to the face of a Ukiah Police officer; and (2) that she had suffered in 2021 a prior Strike conviction in the Mendocino County Superior Court.”
According to Eyster, in 2021, “Seivertson was convicted by felony plea of attempted robbery in the second degree (of Walmart) and resisting an executive officer by means of violence.
The defendant's 2021 attempted robbery conviction is the Strike conviction that enhances sentencing choices.
In 2019, Eyster explains that “Seivertson was convicted of felony vandalism and resisting arrest (after) maliciously causing approximately $20,000 damage to fire trucks and other equipment at the Hopland fire station.”
During her sentencing this month, Eyster reports making the following comments: “While all will likely agree that Seivertson is a disturbed individual to one degree or another, the courts and her attorney determined in her latest case that she was not insane at the time of the crimes and that she is not currently incompetent, as those psychological terms are defined by California law.
She also has been recalcitrant and refused to cooperate with psychological help before, during, and after she has been prosecuted for her various crimes. In the dangerous context of her refusing to accept help, Seivertson's behavior has become increasingly unpredictable and violent, mandating the increasing lengths of incarceration needed to prevent her from inflicting harm on additional victims within the local community.”
Finally, Eyster notes that “should Seivertson commit and be convicted of another `serious' or `violent' crime, she more than likely will be facing an alternative state prison sentence of 25 years to life.”