Judge asks for input on expert to evaluate accused nurse
A Tuolumne County Superior Court judge asked for suggestions Friday from the defense and prosecution for a third expert to further evaluate whether a former Adventist Health Sonora nurse, accused of attempting to hire someone to murder her husband in September 2020, should undergo mental health diversion rather than criminal prosecution.
Defendant Heidi Ann Butler, who has been out of custody since posting bond for her $100,000 bail in September 2020, appeared in person in Department 1 at the Justice Center courthouse southeast of downtown Sonora.
Dana Gross with the Public Defender's Office spoke for Butler. District Attorney Cassandra Jenecke spoke for the prosecution.
Presiding Judge Kevin Seibert said he already has evaluations of Butler from Dr. Luigi Piciucco, a defense-hired, Sacramentobased mental health professional, and from Dr. Mary K. Mcdonald, a Visaliabased licensed psychologist hired by the prosecution.
“My tentative opinion is to go for a third expert,” Seibert told Butler, Gross, and Jenecke at the start of the hearing in Department 1. “I have mixed views from your experts. I suggest you both talk to your experts and choose a third. If they can't, I'll choose one.”
Jenecke asked what court mechanism Seibert intended to use and who would pay for the third expert. Seibert responded the court will pay costs.
“At least give me a list,” Seibert said. “The court often hears from Piciucco and Mcdonald, but when they offer such different opinions, I'm not going to make a decision on my own.”
The defense and prosecution agreed to return to Department 1 at 1:30 p.m. next Friday, June 3.
Seibert sounded more open Friday to Butler's request for mental health diversion than he did in mid-april, when he noted Mcdonald's assessment and said Butler had not taken advantage of opportunities for treatment since her arrest more than a year ago.
Because Butler had not acted on opportunities to work on her mental health over the past year-and-ahalf, Seibert said in midApril, it was unlikely he would grant Butler's request for mental health diversion.
Mental health diversion, when it's granted to any defendant in any criminal case, means the defendant gets mental health treatment and avoids criminal prosecution.
In an October 2020 preliminary hearing, the prosecution called two deputies with the Sheriff's Office as witnesses. Det. Jeffrey Lee and Deputy Skylar Waid recounted how their investigation of Butler began with her coworker, a nurse named Deanna Gore, reporting her suspicions to the FBI.
The FBI forwarded the report to the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office and took up the investigation with Gore, who later recorded a pretext phone call implicating Butler.
In November 2020, the California Board of Nursing through the State Attorney General's Office sought to have Butler's license as a registered nurse suspended. The board's website shows the court officially granted the suspension in February 2021.