Ritu Jha–
Indian American doctor Dharmesh Patel, who drove his Tesla off a California cliff in an alleged attempt to kill his family seated in it and who is seeking mental health diversion, will have to wait. On November 8, Mental Health Diversion Judge Susan Jakubowski set a new date for the hearing on defendant Patel’s eligibility and suitability for mental health diversion. The new date will be decided on December 13.
The court was advised of the steps taken to conduct a further investigation. The defense requested the case be continued for two weeks for a status conference. The prosecution, on its part, requested 60 days for the next hearing.
READ: indica’s comprehensive coverage of the Dharmesh Patel attempted murder case

San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe told indica via email that Judge Jakubowski set the case on December 13, for a status conference and to set a date for the hearing on defendant Patel’s eligibility and suitability for mental health diversion. The defendant remains in custody on no-bail status.
The Mental Health Diversion program allows those accused of a crime to get mental health treatment for up to two years. Patel’s defense attorney Joshua Bentley during the July 7, 2023 case hearing had that was set in RWC Felony Court, with Judge Jeffrey R. Finigan, to set a new date for the preliminary hearing made a motion for mental health diversion and had indicated that the qualifying mental illness is a major depressive disorder.
Judge Finigan ruled that this qualifies the defendant for consideration for mental health diversion and referred the case to the superior court’s Mental Health Diversion calendar for determination of both eligibility and suitability.
Wagstaffe told indica, “If the court ultimately rules the defendant is suitable for mental health diversion and grants diversion, criminal proceedings are suspended and there is no trial or conviction.”
Wagstaffe has mentioned earlier that the prosecutors are diving deep to see if Patel needs the mental health diversion, and the prosecutors are opposing it because it’s known he intentionally drove the tesla off a cliff and dropped 250 feet into the rocks and surf below trying to kill his children and his wife.
Patel, 41, of Pasadena, worked as a radiologist at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, and has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and child abuse in February to which he pleaded not guilty.
He told the investigators that the sensor on his Model Y electric car indicated it had low tire pressure as he was driving his wife and two children on the Pacific Coast Highway on January 2 this year.
According to the court, Patel was driving his Tesla with his wife and two children aged 7 and 4 along the Highway One Southbound after spending holidays with in-laws family in the Bay Area. After leaving the Lantos Tunnel, Patel drove car up the hill At Devil’s Slide, turned off the Highway onto a dirt area and then turned over the cliff and dropped 250 feet onto the rocks and surf below.
The motive is still unclear.