Crime & Safety

Mraz Ordered to Undergo Mental Evaluation, Sentencing Delayed

Mraz's sentencing date has been moved to June 29, 2012.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge last week ordered Mount Washington's Louis Mraz to undergo a 90-day mental diagnostic period, following a conviction on charges of running down a cyclist in his convertible on Avenue 50 in May of 2011.

Mraz was last month convicted of one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of violating section 240 of the California Penal Code, which is defined as "an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another."

The jury acquitted Mraz of one count of hit and run.

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"The diagnostic report will be used to determine what type of sentence is appropriate for [Mr. Mraz]," said Ross Hirsch, the civil attorney for Winona Wacker, who has been monitoring the case in the courtroom. 

According to a Los Angeles Police Department report, Mraz then "drove violently into the left side of Wacker’s bike causing her to fall and tumble to the pavement.  Mraz then left the area, leaving Wacker with numerous cuts and abrasions."

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The California Penal Code states that "any person who commits an assault upon the person of another with a deadly weapon or instrument other than a firearm or by any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment."

Mraz, who sits on the board of directors of the Mount Washington Homeowners Alliance, was previously arrested for a road rage incident in 1999.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Mraz was first sentenced to 45 days community service on a Caltrans crews for punching a 72-year-old man in the face following a traffic incident.

The full Times article can be found here.

The article further states that Mraz, who was 51 years old at the time, was placed on three years summary probation and ordered to publicly apologize to the victim in the Mount Washington Newsletter by Judge Ramona G. See.


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