Man in cliff crash may get treatment not jail
No one argues that Dharmesh Patel suffered from a psychotic break when he drove his Tesla sedan off a Devil’s Slide cliff 16 months ago, miraculously surviving along with his wife and two young children.
What prosecutors and Patel’s defense attorney disagree on is his mental health diagnosis that led to the crash. Patel’s attorney and two experts have called it major depressive disorder with a single episode of psychotic features, while prosecutors and their expert have determined it to be schizoaffective disorder. While the disorders share overlapping symptoms, the differences have been at the heart of a three-day mental health diversion hearing that culminated Friday and carry massive stakes for Patel.
If San Mateo Superior Judge Susan Jakubowski finds mental health diversion appropriate, Patel would face two years of treatment out of custody under GPS monitoring. If he successfully completes the diversion program, his charges would be dismissed, and the case would disappear. If she rules against diversion, Patel could face seven years to life in prison on each of his three counts of attempted murder if convicted. Immediately he would return to his criminal prosecution and face a preliminary hearing.
On Friday, Jakubowski said she would issue a ruling on June 20 after weighing a large volume of evidence.
“I wouldn’t be doing my job unless I took the time I need to go through this case,” she said.
During closing arguments Friday, prosecutors argued that Patel’s proposed treatment plan in a diversion program was based on a flawed diagnosis and therefore he would not be successful and would pose an unreasonable public safety risk to the community. San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Dominique Davis argued that Patel has a history of masking his symptoms and could do so again while being treated outpatient without proper safeguards.
She called the defense treatment plan: “Let’s let him out and let’s figure it out later.”
Meanwhile, Patel’s defense attorney told the judge his client’s case is exactly why legislators passed the 2018 law that would send eligible mentally ill defendants to treatment versus prison, and Patel fit all the criteria.
“That was not him. It was 100% a mental health episode,” Josh Bentley, Patel’s defense attorney, said in his closing arguments. “Mr. Patel is a decent human being with zero criminal history. The law calls for this very exact situation, and it allows the court to divert.”
He said he worried the judge would potentially be swayed by media coverage of the diversion hearing, but said the burden of her decision would be carried by the defendant, his relatives, his care team and himself.
“Other attempted murder cases got mental health diversion,” he reminded the judge.
The judge must determine whether Patel has a qualifying mental illness and if it contributed to his alleged crime. She must also determine whether Patel would be successful in treatment, and whether he presents a public safety threat, among other requirements.
Prosecutors charged Patel last year, alleging he intentionally drove his white 2021 Tesla Model Y, with his wife and children inside, off a cliff just south of the Tom Lantos Tunnels on Jan. 2, 2023. The family survived the 330-foot drop, but Patel, who has pleaded not guilty, his wife and 7year-old child suffered serious injuries.
At the time of the crash, Patel told investigators he pulled off Highway 1 to check on a possible flat tire, according to court records. Witnesses told CHP investigators the car veered off the cliff without braking. The doctor’s wife Neha Petal repeatedly told rescuers in the immediate aftermath of the wreck that her husband intentionally drove off the cliff and he had been experiencing mental health issues.
However, after those initial concerns voiced by Neha Patel, prosecutors said that she stopped cooperating with investigators and hired an attorney.
Last week, she spoke publicly for the first time since the crash and pleaded with the judge to allow her husband to receive mental health treatment rather than continue to be prosecuted. Wiping away tears, she spoke via Zoom and said she misses her “best friend,” and believes his mental illness is treatable and she wants her family back together. On Friday, she listened to the proceedings over Zoom, and her parents and relatives, along with her husband’s family, sat in the courtroom in support of Dharmesh Patel. The defendant, dressed in a red, jail-issued jumpsuit, sat next to his attorney and watched quietly.
Two doctors hired by Dharmesh Patel’s attorneys diagnosed Patel with major depressive disorder with a single episode of psychotic features and testified that he should be sent to treatment.
The experts, who met multiple times with Patel, said he had been hearing footsteps and thought he was being followed in the weeks before the crash. He was preoccupied with world events, including the Jeffrey Epstein saga, the fentanyl crisis and the war in Ukraine, they said, and became worried his children would be sex-trafficked.
However, the prosecution’s expert psychologist diagnosed Patel with schizoaffective disorder, an illness similar to major depressive disorder with psychotic episodes that can be treated with antipsychotic medication.
Both disorders qualify for mental health diversion; however, the judge must also decide that Patel is likely to agree to a full treatment regimen, including taking prescribed medications, to qualify for diversion. The prosecution expert testified that Patel has shown a reluctance to take antipsychotic medication since the crash.
On Friday, Jakubowski asked Patel’s attorney numerous questions about the kind of treatment and monitoring Patel would submit to if she approved diversion. Prosecutors questioned how any violations by Patel would be handled.
In his closing statement, Bentley said Patel would enter a “very intensive treatment program,” overseen by the clinical director for forensic psychiatry at Stanford University. Patel has been verbally accepted into an outpatient program in San Mateo County, he said.
“The law calls for this very exact situation and it allows the court to divert,” he said, adding that legislators “realized that not everyone who commits a crime is a criminal.”
Davis started her closing statement posting a photo of the 330foot cliff where the Tesla plunged off. She emphasized the cliff was the same height as Big Ben, the famed London landmark.
“The only reason this is not statutorily excluded,” Davis argued, “is because everyone lived. … What he did should have led to the death of him and his three family members.” A murder charge would not be eligible for mental health diversion.
“The most frightening part is no one saw it coming,” Davis said, arguing that another sudden psychotic episode could happen again, particularly because his treatment plan was tailored to an improper diagnosis.
While the pair of diagnoses have overlapping symptoms, Davis argued schizoaffective disorder involves two or more weeks of delusions or psychotic symptoms without the presence of a major depressive mood. Doctor notes, she argued, showed that Patel suffered from delusions as far back as the start of the war in Ukraine, in February 2022. Davis also pointed out doctor notes in the days following the crash where Patel and doctors recognized no mental health symptoms and argued such “masking” abilities could prevent a relapse from being discovered during his potential diversion.
In addition, the judge will determine whether Patel should continue to be suspended from practicing medicine. An attorney representing the Medical Board of California has asked Jakubowski to extend Patel’s ban through any potential mental health diversion, or through the conclusion of a criminal case.