Three defendants from SLO protest receive misdemeanor diversion
–Today, three defendants charged for unlawful conduct surrounding the protests in San Luis Obispo on June 1, 2020 requested and received Court Misdemeanor Diversion (CMD) in their cases from Judge Jacquelyn Duffy.
Henry Popp and Alexandra Bahramzadehebrahimi, charged with failing to disperse after being warned to disperse, each received one year of diversion and 20 hours of suspended community service. Gianna Stoddard also received one year of diversion, however, is required to complete 20 hours of community service since her charge involved resisting or obstructing a peace officer in addition to the failure to disperse. As a condition of the diversion, all three individuals are required to obey all laws for the period of one year. After successful completion of the CMD, the case will be dismissed and the arrest upon which the diversion program was imposed will be deemed to have never occurred pursuant to Assembly Bill 3234. The Honorable Michael Duffy gave the indicated sentence one week ago and the Honorable Jacquelyn H. Duffy upheld the offer today.
In response to an inquiry from The Tribune, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jerret Gran stated the following, “The office of the District Attorney believes the resolution of court misdemeanor diversion was a fair and reasonable one for these defendants given their lack of criminal history and the totality of circumstances surrounding their conduct.”
CMD is a new program that was created by the California Legislature in 2020 to divert minor misdemeanor offenses out of court. Assembly Bill 3234 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 30, 2020.
For more information on the diversion program, visit the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court’s website at: https://www.slo.courts.ca.gov/ff/forms.htm
Click here to view the diversion agreement for this case
Click here to view the CMD protocol
Click here to view the CMD guidelines
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