A doctor who drove his kids off a cliff in a failed murder-suicide bid could be offered a lifeline by the California courts.
Dharmesh Patel, 42, is charged with the attempted murder of his wife Neha and their two kids near San Francisco, by intentionally driving their Tesla off a 330- foot cliff.
The incident happened on January 2 last year, and allegedly saw his hospitalized family tell paramedics, ‘he tried to kill us’.
Psychologists, however, have testified Patel appeared increasingly delusional in the days before the crash, culminating in a one-time psychotic episode.
Earlier this month, Patel’s wife begged for his release – stressing that she and her children, aged four and seven, ‘need him in our life.’ A two-year, ‘mental health diversion’ program that would see him released is now being considered.
As Patel’s attorney made their case, members his wife’s family – his in-laws – sat in to show their support.
Dharmesh Patel, 42, is charged with the attempted murder of his wife Neha and their two kids near San Francisco, by intentionally driving their Tesla off a 330- foot cliff. He is seen arriving at San Mateo County Superior Court on Friday
‘Mr. Patel is a good man,’ Patel’s attorney said during a hearing Friday, arguing the January 2023 incident was a one-time psychotic episode
‘Mr. Patel is a good man,’ Patel’s attorney, Joshua Bentley, said during a hearing Friday – the last of three to determine whether Patel should be admitted into a program that would see all of his criminal charges dismissed.
He acknowledged the ‘incredibly serious’ nature of the charges, but stressed Patel was a perfect candidate for the two years of treatment by a team of psychologists led by James Armontrout, director of the Stanford Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship.
The psychologist was one of several to diagnose Patel with major depressive disorder in the wake the crash near Half Moon Bay, after which every member of the family survived but were left seriously injured.
While making his argument, Bentley produced 47 letters of support portrayed as signs that Patel was ‘beloved by his community,’ as Patel’s parents and siblings and members of his wife’s family sat in court offering support.
The judge, meanwhile, sat and listened, ahead of a decision set to be announced June 20.
Under the plan, Patel would spend at least two months in an intensive outpatient program at El Camino Health, a non-profit hospital with 420 beds in scenic Mountain View.
He would also attend weekly therapy sessions with at least two clinicians while being allowed back home, on the condition he be outfitted with a GPS monitoring device and largely barred from leaving San Mateo County.
He would also be barred from practicing medicine, as well as driving.
The incident happened on January 2, and allegedly saw his hospitalized family tell paramedics, ‘he tried to kill us.’ Several of his relatives are seen arriving in court Friday for the last of three hearings to determine whether Patel should be admitted into a program. Pictured, l to r: Patel’s sister, his wife’s dad, his his sister-in-law, and wife’s mom, with his brother in the back
Patel’s wife said his return will not only ‘restore him back to himself, but it will restore the health and wellness of our entire family.’ The program would see all of his charges dismissed and him released with an ankle bracelet. The crashed Tesla is seen here
First, he would spend at least two months in an intensive outpatient program at El Camino Health, a non-profit hospital with 420 beds in Mountain View. It has a 41 acre campus
During the hearing, the doctor’s defense produced 47 letters of support portrayed as signs that Patel was ‘beloved by his community,’ as Patel’s parents and siblings and other members of his family sat in the court offering support. Patel’s sister is seen at left, along with his wife’s mother and father
The two years of treatment would be presided over by team of psychologists led by James Armontrout, director of the Stanford Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship
But prosecutors, who’ve charged Dharmesh Patel with three counts of attempted murder, argued the two-year program would leave both his family and the community in danger from a man who has long masked his symptoms and shown a reluctance to take antipsychotic medication.
Patel’s parents and siblings, and members of his wife’s family sat in court offering Patel support, as the judge weighed his fate. A decision will be announced June 20
‘As his wife and two children were plunging form that cliff, what is most frightening is that nobody saw this coming,’ Deputy District Attorney Dominique Davis told San Mateo Superior Court Judge Susan Jakubowski during proceedings in Redwood City.
She said the risk of releasing him is the ‘total annihilation of his entire family.’
Two months after the near fatal crash, while in jail awaiting prosecution, ‘he was already asking why he had to take medications all the time,’ Davis added, as San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe aired similar arguments.
Bentley, sitting beside his client who was wearing red prison fatigues and sandals with both hands cuffed, acknowledged that there is ‘no question this is an incredibly serious case, that the charges are very, very serious, that the actions are very, very serious.’
But Bentley said his client had no criminal history and described him as a loving family man.
In June last year, the doctor was banned from practicing medicine after being called ‘an alarming danger to the public,’ by the medical board
The wreckage of the Tesla is pictured at the bottom of the cliff
After calling Patel ‘a good man,’ Bentley further asserted: ‘This was not him. This was 100 percent a mental health episode.’
He said doctors only later discovered he suffers major depressive disorder with psychotic features, which ‘came on quick’ and that ‘nobody saw coming.’
During earlier hearings, experts who met with Patel said he had been hearing footsteps and thought he was being followed in the weeks before the crash, San Francisco Chronicle reported.
But the prosecution on Friday cited their own expert who diagnosed him a more severe schizoaffective disorder, which can be treated with psychotropics.
They said that despite being described by his family as generally even-keeled and stable, he’d expressed paranoid, delusional thoughts for over a year, obsessing over the war in Ukraine, the fentanyl crisis, and concerns that his children would be sex trafficked.
After his arrest, he initially talked about having a flat tire and said the car skidded out of control on a narrow road, and only started discussing mental issues when speaking with a doctor for the defense.
Patel, 42, accused of purposefully driving his Tesla off the Devil Slide’s cliff thought he was protecting his family, one psychologist testified – as the defense attempts to paint the incident as a onetime ordeal
Lawyers have argued the Mental Health Diversion will address all of his issues, receiving intensive outpatient treatment from a mental health team that will report back to the court on a weekly basis
Bentley said the Mental Health Diversion will address all of his issues, receiving intensive outpatient treatment from a mental health team that will report back to the court on a weekly basis. The program would include safeguards, he noted. He’d have to surrender his driver license and passport and wear a high-tech ankle bracelet with GPS that will set off an alarm if he leaves the area.
He will also give up his right to practice medicine, as he focuses on his mental health.
‘He has been in remission for over a year,’ Bentley tried to assure the judge.
The prosecutor countered that Patel has a history of being ‘unreliable in reporting symptoms,’ and tells people ‘whatever he thinks will help him at the time.’
In court last week, his wife begged prosecutors to drop the charges in favor of the diversion program.
‘We need him in our life,’ she said, before blaming the crash on ‘a mental health episode beyond any of our understanding or control,’ Mercury News reported.
She also promised that ‘things will be different’ if her husband is allowed to return home to their family.
Patel’s wife blamed the crash on ‘a mental health episode beyond understanding.’ Dharmesh Patel (pictured in February 2023) stands in an orange jumpsuit in a San Mateo County courtroom
Patel’s wife said his return will not only ‘restore him back to himself, but it will restore the health and wellness of our entire family.’
Emphasizing the importance of the ‘health and safety’ of her family, she said that she ‘will not hesitate to seek help when needed.’
‘We need — we need him in our life,’ Patel’s wife added. ‘We’re not a family without him.’
If the plan is approved, Patel’s care would be in the hands of Stanford psychiatric clinician, James Armontrout.
The medical treatment would entail group and individual therapy sessions, as well as sessions with a psychotherapist.
If he successfully completes the program, his criminal charges would be dropped. If the judge rejects the diversion, he faces a criminal trial and seven years to life on each of three counts.