Chandler v. Superior Court CA1/1
Timothy Andrew Chandler was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence. Effective January 1, 2021, the Legislature enacted a new law, Penal Code section 1001.95, making defendants charged with misdemeanors generally eligible for diversion at the discretion of the trial judge. The law expressly exempts several offenses from eligibility for diversion, but driving under the influence is not one of them. An older law, however, Vehicle Code section 23640, provides that those charged with driving under the influence (DUI) are categorically ineligible for diversion.
Chandler filed a petition for misdemeanor diversion under section 1001.95, arguing that section 1001.95 superseded Vehicle Code section 23640 with respect to misdemeanor DUIs. After his petition was denied in the trial court, Chandler filed a petition for writ of mandate in this court, asking us to direct the trial court to vacate its order denying his petition for diversion and grant it instead.
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