California Court Decides that Radical Leftist Extremism Is a Form of Mental Illness as Riddhi Patel is Granted Mental Health Diversion

By now, the case of Riddhi Patel, the left wing activist who threatened to murder members of the Bakersfield City Council, has become more than just another local criminal proceeding.

What once looked like a high-profile public safety and political extremism case evolved into a de facto legal determination that radical left political behavior is a matter of mental health rather than ideological disagreement.

In a decision that will reverberate far beyond Kern County, a California Superior Court judge has granted Patel a mental health diversion – meaning that instead of facing imprisonment or traditional prosecution for her conduct, she will enter a court-supervised mental health treatment program and could ultimately see all 21 felony charges dismissed if she completes the program successfully. Yes, they determined her behavior was just “nuts”.

WATCH:

This is the first time a radical leftist activist who escalated political rhetoric into explicit threats against elected officials has been formally routed out of the criminal justice system and into mental health diversion on the basis that her political extremism reflects a diagnosable and treatable psychological condition.

The saga began at a Bakersfield City Council meeting on April 10, 2024, when Patel attended public comment and delivered a passionate critique of council members for failing to adopt a Gaza cease-fire resolution.

When she finished her comments, Patel told council members, “We’ll see you at your house, we’ll murder you”.

That chilling threat to murder the council resulted in her immediate arrest on numerous counts of “intent to terrorize” and “criminal threats” under California law.

Prosecutors originally levied 16 felony counts that later grew to 21 as the case proceeded.

Bail was initially set at $2 million, and then lowered to $500,000, after which Patel was released pending further hearings.

Public safety advocates argued her remarks crossed numerous legal lines and should be met with accountability.

What has drawn the most attention isn’t just Patel’s behavior, but the court’s eventual decision to treat it as a mental health issue rather than a pure criminal matter. In late 2025 and early 2026, her defense team sought to qualify her for California’s mental health diversion program, which is typically reserved for individuals whose criminal acts are driven by underlying psychological disorders.

The law allows courts to divert eligible defendants away from traditional prosecution if:

• A clinically significant mental disorder can be diagnosed by qualified professionals, and
• The disorder significantly contributed to the alleged criminal behavior, and
• The disorder is likely to respond to treatment.

Unlike traditional criminal punishment, which focuses on deterrence and retribution, mental health diversion emphasizes treatment and rehabilitation, a concept usually applied in cases where delusions, psychosis, or other severe mental disorders are clearly involved.

After two rounds of psychological evaluations, one last November and another this January, Kern County Superior Court Judge John Brownlee ruled that Patel is suitable and eligible for mental health diversion.

This ruling effectively means that Patel’s threat to kill was not dangerous political speech with criminal intent, but a symptom of an underlying mental instability.

The court’s endorsement of the diversion program for Patel is an implicit acknowledgment that extreme radical leftist behavior is a form of treatable mental illness.

Even more consequential, this ruling might have implications far beyond Bakersfield and Kern County.

It means radical leftists like AOC, Eric Swalwell, Bernie Sanders and many others can be assumed to be mentally ill.

Patel will next appear in court on March 6, 2026, for a status hearing and progress report on her mental health diversion program.

If she completes all required treatment and supervision terms, the charges against her could be dismissed entirely, effectively giving her a legal reset from felony prosecution.

One thing is clear: California courts have taken a significant step toward reframing radical political conduct as a matter of mental health, not legitimate political ideology.

Joel Gilbert is a Los Angeles-based film producer and president of Highway 61 Entertainment. He is theproducer of the new film Roseanne Barr Is America. He is also the producer of: Dreams from My Real Father, The Trayvon Hoax, Trump: The Art of the Insult, and many other films on American politics and music icons. Gilbert is on Twitter: @JoelSGilbert.

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