Former Irvine Councilmember Tammy Kim is asking the court to send her to “Mental Health Pre-Trial Diversion,” in what appears to he a legal gambit to escape the multiple felony election fraud charges she faces stemming from her council service, 2024 mayoral campaign and abortive candidacy for a 2025 council special election.
This is a essentially a form of “not guilty by reason of insanity.”
The state penal code allows the court to order a defendant who “meets specific requirements” into diversion for “unique mental health treatment to support needs of individuals with mental disorders.” During such a diversion, the provider supplying mental health treatment for the defendant keeps the court, the defense, and the prosecutor apprised with regular reports.
If the defendant is deemed to “perform satisfactorily” during diversion, the court shall dismiss the defendant’s charges.
Kim is charged with 10 felonies and one misdemeanor stemming from her elaborate machinations to fake her residency when she was running in city council special election in 2024 and 2025. A lawsuit was filed contending she did not live in District 5 (where the special election was taking place). As the controversy swirled, Kim was fired from a city commission. The District 3 resident abruptly canceled a fundraiser, while claiming she “legally lived in District 5” and painting herself as the victim of powerful and shadowy interests.
After a fairly disastrous court appearance by her legal counsel, Tustin Councilman Lee Fink, Kim settled the lawsuit and agreed to be removed from the ballot.
OC Independent reported extensively on Kim’s plotting and scheming in the following articles:
READ: Is Tammy Kim Faking Her Residency In Special Election for Vacant Council Seat?
READ: Tammy Kim Removed From City Commission, Served With Subpoena, Cancels Campaign Fundraiser
READ: Tammy Kim’s Strange and Strained Legal Defense
READ: Tammy Kim Off The Ballot Amidst Fake Residency Allegations
READ: Caught Faking Her Residency, Tammy Kim Plays The Victim Card
READ: Former Councilwoman Tammy Kim Charged With 10 Election Fraud Felonies
At the January 6 hearing, Kim’s lawyers will presumably detail the “mental disorders” that merit her admission to mental health diversion. It’s an awkward defense: Kim is basically claiming that she was mentally ill not only while running in the special election, but while serving on the city council – and voting on all sorts of consequential items.
In fact, Kim is still a member of the Orange County Vector Control Board of Trustees. Isn’t she admitting to discharging her public duties while suffering from a mental disorder serious to warrant dismissing 10 felony charges?
Kim’s Machinations Qualified As Crazy
Recapping the madness: Tammy Kim has lived in District 3 since her original election to the Irvine City Council She owns a condo there where she lives with her adult son.
In May 2024, Kim re-registered to vote at 19 Alaris Aisle in District 5. In her court documents, Kim says she moved from her District 3 to 19 Alaris Aisle because she was worried about her safety due to controversy over the Israel-Hamas war – although her 22-year-old remained in the condo.
Kim voted from the 19 Alaris Aisle address in November 2024.
When a special election was called to fill the District 5 vacancy, she used the 19 Alaris Aisle address when she pulled nomination papers, stating, under penalty of perjury, that she lived there. The Park family (husband, wife and two children) live at that address.
On January 9, a private investigator spoke to Mrs. Park. She said her family has lived at 19 Alaris Aisle for 8 years, they are the only people who have lived there during that time, and that they have never rented out a room nor had a tenant.
Murdock, amazingly, dismisses as “hearsay” Mrs. Park’s statement about who does and doesn’t live in her own home.
Kim learned about that conversation, presumably from the Parks according to Scolesdang’s lawsuit, and the next day, January 10, rented a room in an apartment at 44 Willowrun in District 5.
At no time has Kim explained why she suddenly decided to “move” from the Park’s condo at 19 Alaris Aisle to sharing an apartment with a stranger at 44 Willowrun.
It remains to be seen if the judge determines whether being so deeply and powerfully obsessed with being elected to the Irvine City Council qualifies as a mental disorder.
