Defense Argues Incident Caused by a Mental Health Episode – Judge Maintains 180-day Jail Order

By Alex Jimenez

OAKLAND, CA – Deputy Public Defender Daniel Eugene Duvernay requested that the courts reduce a 180-day jail order for Chad Edward Estis here in Alameda County Superior Court Friday, insisting his client was having a mental health breakdown when he attempted to force his way into a home,

Judge Delia Trevino denied this request based on Estis’ criminal history, failure to report to probation, and the facts of this case. Those violations led to the judge upholding the 180 days, minus his 54 days in custody.

The victims in this case were at their residence when they encountered Estis, who believed his wife and children were inside the residence.

The two victims attempted to go inside “when they became afraid of Estis’ demeanor,” according to the police report that said Estis repeatedly banged and kicked on the door demanding to see his wife and children, “I know they’re in there I saw them go in and stop playing games.”

PD Duvernay noted that the police saw no damage to the door and suggested that Estis may have been experiencing a mental health episode at the time of the incident. “That was the motivation for his behavior that day “and not anything nefarious or otherwise unlawful,” said Duvernay, and he had officially requested for Judge Delia Trevino to reduce the 180 days.

Deputy District Attorney Lance Kubo argued that, during the confrontation, the two victims had to “physically push very hard on the front door” to prevent Estis from entering the home, after he pounded and kicked the door 50 times, and allegedly resisted arrest before being detained by police.

While Trevino waited to hear from the probation officer, DDA Kubo told the judge that upon release from custody in another case in San Francisco, Estis allegedly, according to the police report, assaulted a female by attempting to forcibly take her bag and punching her on the side of her face, and was placed in custody in San Francisco.

The probation officer then clarified that Estis had never reported to probation.

After both arguments were submitted, Judge Trevino quickly denied the Estis request, taking into account the facts of this case, criminal history and failure to report to probation. Trevino did however acknowledge that the incident for this case may have been due to a mental health episode.

“While it certainly appears that maybe it is not in your normal character, perhaps you were having an episode,” said the judge.

Estis briefly interrupted, telling the court that he was not aware that he had to report to probation. Judge Trevino still maintained that he had violated a post release order and was concerned over his criminal background.

Author

  • Alexander Jimenez

    Alex Jimenez is a 4th year politcal science major at the University of Calfornia, Berkeley. He has future aspirations to attend law school and is from Pleasanton, Ca.

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