California v. Gerson
Annotate this CaseA jury found Hayden Gerson guilty of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter a lesser included offense of attempted murder; two counts of assaulting a peace officer with a semiautomatic firearm; shooting at an inhabited house; assault on a peace officer with force likely to produce great bodily injury; making a criminal threat; exhibiting a firearm to a peace officer to resist arrest; two counts of resisting an executive officer; and harming or interfering with a police animal. The jury also found true various enhancements to these offenses. The jury found Gerson to be sane during commission of the offenses. The trial court sentenced Gerson to a total term of 33 years eight months in prison. Gerson attacked two police officers attempting to detain him after he refused to comply with their orders. This attack led to a SWAT standoff and gun battle between Gerson and two SWAT officers. After Gerson choked and bit a police K-9, multiple officers were able to subdue and arrest him. Gerson appealed his convictions, arguing that the judgment had to be reversed because the trial court erred in denying his motion for pretrial diversion based on a mental order. Further, he made arguments relating to the sufficiency of the evidence, and errors in instructing the jury. In the published portion of its opinion, the Court of Appeal concluded that substantial evidence supported the trial court’s finding that Gerson did not meet his burden of showing he suffered from bipolar disorder, a mental disorder that qualified for pretrial diversion. Accordingly, its ruling denying Gerson’s motion for pretrial diversion did not amount to an abuse of discretion. In the unpublished parts of the opinion, the Court rejected Gerson’s remaining arguments.
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