Supervising Deputy District Attorney Doug Poston and District Attorney Public Information Officer Jacqueline Rodriguez were the guests on the Z107.7 Up Close Show with Gary Daigneault on Friday (March 31).
Daigneault asked about the county’s mental health courts, one of which can be found here in Joshua Tree. This specific can be used to provide medical and psychological resources to those whose unstable mental state is partially responsible for their criminal behavior, specifically diverting someone who might find themselves habitually breaking the law and returning to prison.
As an example of the type of incident that could lead someone into mental health court, Poston used a recent local example, saying:
“There will be some behaviors that some folks, who are afflicted with that sort of thing, may lead to criminal charges at some point.
Vandalism is a very common one. We had kind of a big case in Twentynine Palms recently, with Freedom Plaza being vandalized. You look at that, and say, why would a person do that? Again, I don’t know if that person has applied for or would be going through the mental health court, but that’s really what it is. The system is designed to get folks that have those kinds of difficulties that drive criminal behavior into a program that will help them cope and deal with the challenges they face so they are not acting out in a criminal way and leading to charges with can ultimately lead to prison.”
Charles Rush was arrested for $30,000 worth of vandalism to the Twentynine Palms Community Center at Freedom Plaza on March 15. For our full coverage of that incident, see the link below.
You can listen to Gary Daigneault’s full interview with the representatives from the County DA’s office on the Up Close Show page or by downloading the show as a podcast from your favorite podcasting app.
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