Paralyzed Chico inmate takes plea deal
Agreement may allow schizophrenic man to avoid incarceration. By Lee Romney and Scott Gold Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
March 14, 2008
A mentally ill Chico man who became quadriplegic in a Glenn County jail during a psychotic episode last year agreed to a plea deal Thursday that could result in a misdemeanor criminal record and probation rather than years in a state prison or mental institution.
Reynaldo Cabral, 24, had faced three counts of attempted murder for trying to strangle his girlfriend and holding a paring knife to her neck during a bout of psychosis early last year.
His story was featured in a December 2007 Los Angeles Times article as an example of a troubled community mental health system, which often fails the sick and channels them into prisons and jails that are ill-equipped to properly care for them.
Cabral, who has schizophrenia, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of spousal battery using a knife -- a felony that could be reduced to a misdemeanor after he completes probation, he and his defense attorney said. He will likely be sentenced in May.
Under the deal, the attempted murder charges would be dropped, along with counts of battery on an officer and driving under the influence.
"It was like a big weight was lifted off my shoulders," said Cabral, who is paralyzed from the mid-chest down and receives around-the-clock care from his mother and brother. "It's a relief that now I can look at returning to school as a possibility for the future."
Cabral suffered a psychotic break Jan. 3, 2007, and was taken to a Butte County mental health facility after an officer found him naked, wrapped in saran wrap and drenched in kerosene in a Chico park. But he was kept at the facility for only 10 hours of what legally could have been a 72-hour hold, records show.
Cabral began exhibiting psychotic symptoms again after his release, but his family was unable to get him help before he assaulted his girlfriend, Torrie Gonzales, then 25. According to records and interviews, Cabral said he assaulted Gonzales in response to orders from God to cleanse the household.
Once in jail, he received no mental healthcare, records show. After he was repeatedly stunned with a Taser, pepper sprayed and placed naked in a poorly monitored isolation cell, Cabral rammed his head against the wall and shattered a cervical vertebrae. His injury went unnoticed for hours.
Cabral and his family expected a routine pretrial hearing Thursday, but instead, defense attorney Dennis Latimer and Dist. Atty. Robert Holzapfel reached the deal in the chambers of Glenn County Superior Court Judge Angus Saint-Evens. Two court-appointed mental health professionals had concluded that Cabral was insane at the time of the assault.
"I'm very happy," said Latimer. "I think it's a fair disposition of the case." The felony count could carry a five-year prison term but Latimer indicated there is a "strong possibility of probation."
Holzapfel declined to comment.
Cabral expressed elation that the conviction could be reduced to a misdemeanor, because a felony conviction would have prevented him from applying for subsidies for the disabled that could one day allow him to live on his own and complete college.
Cabral is suing Glenn and Butte counties in federal court, alleging inadequate mental healthcare and civil rights violations that led to his paralysis. Officials from Glenn County have declined to comment on the case. The Butte County counsel has said he believes his county acted properly.