People v. Nave CA3

Filed 11/21/25 P. v. Nave CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT

(Placer) ----

THE PEOPLE, C101819

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 62185001)

v.

RICHARD DAMIEN NAVE,

Defendant and Appellant.

The trial court denied defendant Richard Damien Nave’s petition for mental health diversion. The court found him eligible but not suitable, reasoning he posed an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety if treated in the community. Defendant then pled no contest to assault with a deadly weapon, admitted three prior strike allegations, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. On appeal, he contends the trial court abused its discretion in denying his diversion petition. We disagree and affirm. Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. BACKGROUND On April 17, 2022, Placer County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Santiago responded to an assault of a Starbucks employee. The victim told Santiago that shortly after she had

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arrived for work at 4:15 a.m., a transient-looking man she did not recognize approached her and told her he also worked there. The victim told the man to wait outside, but he followed her inside. Once inside, the man put his right arm around the victim’s throat. He was holding a “box-cutter-type” knife. The victim pushed the man away and sustained a cut on her finger. The man ran from the Starbucks. The incident was captured by a surveillance camera inside the Starbucks. A short time later, defendant was taken into custody about a mile and one-half from the Starbucks. During his arrest, defendant was seen throwing a box cutter into nearby bushes. Another responding officer testified that he went to a convenience store across the street from the Starbucks to search for the suspect. The store clerk told him the suspect had come into the store earlier that morning asking for methamphetamine and said he “wanted to kill people,” which frightened her. Defendant was charged with assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)) while released on bail or his own recognizance (§ 12022.1, subd. (b)). The information alleged defendant had three prior strikes based on robbery convictions in 2004, 2009, and 2016 and those convictions also constituted prior serious felonies. Appointed counsel immediately declared a doubt as to defendant’s competency to stand trial. At that point, defendant had two criminal matters pending “in [section] 1368 status.” In one of those cases—a felony second degree burglary case—the court had found defendant incompetent in March 2022 and committed him the Department of State Hospitals (DSH), but released him on DSH diversion over the prosecutor’s objection in April 2022. After being admitted to a crisis residential treatment program on April 13, 2022, under the terms of the DSH diversion plan, defendant left the facility in the middle of the night on April 15. Two days later, on April 17, defendant was arrested for committing the current assault.