David Mehdizadeh

Man who died from a polydrug overdose in L.A. County in 2025.

David Mehdizadeh was 63 years old at the time of his death.

The case In re Mehdizadeh, 105 Cal.App.4th 995 (2003), addressed the intersection of Proposition 36 and the authority of trial courts to revoke probation for nonviolent drug possession offenses. David Nissan Mehdizadeh, a probationer convicted of possession of a controlled substance, was alleged to have violated probation by testing positive for cocaine and missing several drug tests. The Los Angeles County Probation Department recommended modifying his probation to include a residential substance abuse program, rather than revoking it.​

Despite this recommendation, the trial court summarily revoked Mehdizadeh’s probation and incarcerated him pending a formal hearing. Mehdizadeh filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, arguing that under Proposition 36 (Penal Code § 1210.1), probation could not be revoked for a first-time drug-related violation unless the court found the probationer posed a danger to society. The prosecution contended that Proposition 36 did not override the trial court’s general discretion to revoke probation under Penal Code § 1203.2.​

The Court of Appeal held that under Proposition 36, a probationer cannot have probation revoked for a first-time drug-related violation unless the prosecution proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the probationer poses a danger to the safety of others. Since there was no evidence suggesting Mehdizadeh posed such a danger, the court found the summary revocation and incarceration to be unlawful. Even if the trial court had authority to revoke probation under § 1203.2, the court abused its discretion by not releasing Mehdizadeh on his own recognizance pending the formal revocation hearing.