State Sen. Shannon Grove took aim at what she and her supporters call criminals using the state’s mental health diversion program as a “get out of jail free card” at a press conference in Sacramento Tuesday morning.
Grove (R-Bakersfield) pushed for passage of SB 1373, a bill she co-authored with State Sen. Susan Rubio (D-West Covina). According to Grove’s office, SB 1373 “will ensure that those who commit certain crimes are no longer eligible for diversion; it will give judges the discretion to deny diversion, and it will ensure that prosecutors have more tools in their tool chest to make sure inauthentic cases do not receive diversion.”
Grove and a group of supporters, including Robert and Christina Scrivner, the son and estranged wife of disgraced former Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner, were advocating for the bill as it went to the Senate Public Safety Committee for a hearing later Tuesday.
According to reports at the time, Zack Scrivner is alleged to have molested his own daughter in April 2024 at the family home before being stabbed by another of his children in defense of their sibling. After a long delay, he was charged with five felony counts by the California Attorney General, who took over the case because the county district attorney, Cynthia Zimmer, is Scrivner’s aunt.
But even though court documents describe what would be serious sex crimes, none of the five felony charges were for a sex crime, keeping Scrivner eligible for a mental health diversion. He was granted that diversion, and may never serve a day in jail or even have a criminal record if he completes it.
Grove said mental health diversion was intended for low-level, minor offenses, but instead, it’s being abused by repeated offenders and people who commit violent crimes.
“The system is being used by repeat and violent offenders … bad actors who are taking advantage of it,” Grove said.
Christina Scrivner spoke about her own family’s experience almost two years ago to the day.
“Two years ago my family’s life changed forever,” she said. “Two years ago Zack Scrivner went to work and attended a televised supervisors meeting as a sitting supervisor. Ironically, he presented a resolution for Victim’s Rights Week to Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer. That evening, he went home and violently abused his children.”
She said mental health therapy offered the same treatment “he had already on the night he assaulted his own children.”
Lauren Skidmore of the Open Door Network also joined the press conference.
Zimmer terminated the Open Door Network’s contract for victim support services earlier this year, citing Skidmore’s advocacy.
She, too, said the law needs to be changed.
“I have personally sat with survivors of sexual assault, trafficking and abuse whose perpetrators went through (mental health diversion) with a clean record. Those victims didn’t get a clean record,” Skidmore said. “Second chances should never come at the expense of a victim.”