ChicoSol reporter Yucheng Tang attended sessions of Mental Health Diversion court on Aug. 5 and Sept. 2 to learn more about how the program is working in Butte County. Only first names of defendants — who sometimes have charges dismissed — are used in this story.
Michael, then a defendant in a Butte County Superior Court vandalism case, was standing at what a judge called the “finish line.”
“How do you feel?” Judge Jesus Rodriguez asked him.