Donovan Mciver was granted a mental health diversion program and the ability to avoid his first felony conviction after pleading no contest to drug charges.
Mciver was reported to be the passenger of a vehicle found to contain approximately 44 grams of marijuana and 415 grams of heroin after a traffic stop in 2018 but said he was unaware that there were drugs in the vehicle, or even where the vehicle was going.
After evaluations and extensive court conversations, both the court and legal representatives agreed that Mciver may have been taken advantage of by drug traffickers, which is why he was allowed to plea to a lesser charge than the trafficking level III felony charge he was originally booked with. It was reported that the co-offender, who was later federally indicted, had $2,000 cash in his pocket when arrested, whereas Mciver had a total of $23.
Mciver pleaded no contest to conspiracy to violate the uniform controlled substance act, a category C felony. Potential penalties include 1–5 years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine with eligibility for probation.
Mciver’s legal representative, Humboldt County Alternate Public Defender Maureen McQuillan said her client has zero criminal history and some mental health issues.
She told the court Mciver is willing to accept the consequences for the charge and asked that he be given probation. Both the state and the department of parole and probation recommended the same.
Although Mciver was arrested in Humboldt County, McQuillan said he has no ties to Winnemucca and plans to return to Spokane, Washington where he is from. Mciver had spent a total of 158 days in the Humboldt County Jail at the time of the sentencing hearing.
The court granted a mental health diversion program in which Mciver will be expected to obtain an evaluation and follow the recommendations, along with standard terms of probation, after which time the felony charge would be dismissed.
The court also ordered a $25 administrative assessment fee, $3 DNA collection fee, $60 forensic fee and waived the public defender fee.
