(DCNF)—A California Democrat is outraged that former Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner, charged with felony child abuse, will not serve jail time after being allowed to go through mental health diversion — a law her party created.
In Feb. 2025, Scrivner was charged with felony child abuse after being accused of sexually assaulting one of his four children in 2024. However, a Dec. 19 ruling by a judge allows Scrivner to avoid a trial via a mental health diversion program established in 2018, which, according to some legal officials, is a get-out-of-jail-free card.
In a statement released just before Scrivner’s mental health diversion approval, Democrat Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains expressed her upset over the former supervisor’s motion to avoid a trial by applying for the program.
“There is no mental health condition that forces someone to touch a child inappropriately,” Bains said. “Not to mention allegedly doing so while being in possession of illegal firearms. If these allegations are true and treatment is warranted, that care can be delivered behind bars. If the allegations are not true, why ask for diversion?”
Initial accusations against Scrivner surfaced in April 2024. At the time, Kern County deputies were called to the former supervisor’s home after he was allegedly stabbed by his child.
The incident triggered an investigation in which Sheriff Donny Youngblood told reporters that authorities seized 30 firearms, boxes of documents and electronic devices for review, KVPR reported.
Youngblood said at the time that it appeared one of Scrivner’s children was defending a sibling when the stabbing to his upper torso occurred. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his office were also contacted to review the case.
As reports of the incident emerged, Scrivner’s attorney, H.A. Sala, pushed back on the sexual assault allegations as “absolutely not reliable,” adding that there was an altercation at Scrivner’s home in which a gun was taken away from him to prevent him from harming himself, according to KVPR.
By Feb. 14, 2025 Bonta’s office released a statement officially charging the former supervisor with three felony counts of alleged child abuse and two felony counts of alleged possession of assault weapons after an “extensive investigation.”
Details of Scrivner’s allegations were revealed during his Dec. 19 court appearance as Deputy Atty. Gen. Joe Penney stated the former supervisor “got into bed with the minor victim — while he had alcohol, Ambien, benzos (benzodiazepines) and cocaine metabolites in his system — and fondled her breast area and genital area for a period about 10 minutes while she was frozen in fear,” according to Bakersfield.com.
Bains highlighted in her statement that she submitted a letter to Bonta questioning the lack of sex abuse charges. Bains questioned if Scrivner’s intoxication factored into the DOJ’s decision to withhold sexual abuse charges.
The state’s DOJ did not respond to the assemblymember’s letter, according to Bains.
“They have left an Epstein loophole open in this case,” Bains added. “Even if the DOJ was unsure they could prove every charge in court, they should still have brought charges reflecting the evidence in their complaint that alleges Mr. Scrivner ‘got into bed with and subsequently touched [a child] inappropriately.’ Failing to do so may result in no jury, no jail time, and no justice.”
The mental health diversion program was first tucked into a sweeping 900-page budget bill in 2018. The program was expanded in 2022, requiring defendants to prove only that a mental disorder “played a significant role” in their crime, effectively allowing any DSM-5 diagnosis to qualify.
Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper and San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation in December 2025 about the program’s issues, highlighting how defendants charged with felony child abuse, carjackings, residential burglaries and attempted murders can walk free without ever entering a guilty plea.
Those who enter the program are not tracked by the state, leaving it unclear how often participants reoffend or whether they complete treatment at all.
Cooper told the DCNF that judges are obligated to approve offenders into the program because of how the law was written, with Stephan echoing the sheriff’s concerns.
“The judges tell us all the time … their hands are tied,” Stephan said. “The law tells them they must grant mental-health diversion if these things are met — and the things that have to be met are so minimal.”
Since the diversion program’s creation, Democratic lawmakers and justice-reform groups have publicly supported the statute and its amendments over the years. Former Democratic state Sen. Jim Beall, who authored the original bill, argued that “early, court-assisted interventions are far more likely to lead to longer, cheaper, more stable solutions for the community, and for the person suffering from mental illness.”
The mental health diversion program excludes serious crimes like murder, rape, or lewd or lascivious acts on a child under 14. However, Scrivner’s charge of Penal Code section 273a does not fall under the exclusion.
A spokesperson representing California’s DOJ told the Kern Sol News that it opposes the court’s decision to grant mental health diversion to the former supervisor.
“This is a serious case given the nature of the conduct. We formally opposed the court taking this course, we disagree with the ruling, and we are reviewing our options,” the spokesperson told the outlet.
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