Judge denies mental health diversion for former supervisor candidate
A former county supervisor candidate has been denied a mental health diversion.
Judge Christopher Wilson on Friday denied a mental health diversion for Richard French, 76, of Hydesville, who is accused of assaulting his neighbor with a machete on April 30, 2020, though Wilson said it was a close call.
“What it really comes down to is whether I can assure that the explosive nature of this ongoing threat to that small community can be adequately addressed by placing Mr. French on a form of diversion, or mental health diversion,” Wilson said, “and I’m not satisfied as to that.”
French doesn’t have a prior criminal history and Wilson said his mental illness “clearly was a significant factor” in the events that played out on April 30. French’s family indicated his behavior since he’s received medication was more akin “to the father and grandfather they would expect him to be,” Wilson said.
At the same time, Wilson said the seriousness of the offense, attempted murder, and the concerns of several of French’s neighbors did not make French suitable for a diversion.
Wilson expressed skepticism about the attempted murder charge, which was an assault with a deadly weapon charge at the preliminary hearing, but said he had to take the alleged charges at their face value when making the decision.
The assault stemmed from a property line dispute French and his neighbor had been having for a few years that become more volatile when French placed some potted plants in the disputed area, according to testimony from the preliminary hearing.
When French’s neighbor tried to remove the plants with a skid-steer, French allegedly attacked the neighbor with a machete.
Wilson said placing and removing plants in that area was “like poking at the cage of a lion in captivity” and that a volatile response was to be expected.
“I think that the complaining victim clearly expected it because he armed himself with a firearm before he went out there to the scene,” Wilson said. “So a volatile situation not made any better by anyone.”
District Attorney Maggie Fleming said the attempted murder charge was based on a number of neighbors reaching out to her office to “express very high concerns about what they perceived was the level of threat from Mr. French.”
“I want to be clear though it was never done with the purpose of this will somehow preclude him from getting mental health treatment or even potentially mental health diversion,” Fleming said.
If French was granted a mental health diversion, he would have been placed into a residential treatment program for veterans in San Francisco before being placed under the care of his son. Wilson said that was too much of a burden to place on French’s son and a probation officer could immediately respond “should there be any kind of failure” to comply with the conditions by which French would have needed to abide.
“Do I place Benjamin French in that position that I would want a probation officer to be in to essentially pull the trigger should there be some form of decompensation or unwillingness to comply,” Wilson said.
Trial setting is set for 9:30 a.m. Monday.