WOODLAND — Attorneys for the Davis woman convicted earlier this year for the hate-crime vandalism of the Islamic Center of Davis had positive news to report Friday at her six-month probation review.
Lauren Kirk-Coehlo is “meaningfully engaged in therapy and doing extremely well,” lawyer Steven Sabbadini told Judge Dan Maguire during the brief hearing in Yolo Superior Court.
Kirk-Coehlo also recently completed a cultural sensitivity and awareness class at American River College and has performed 38 hours of community service with the Yolo County Food Bank — about a third of the 120 hours Maguire ordered as part of her sentence.
The only hiccup in Kirk-Coehlo’s progress has been her inability to find a job despite actively searching, as “the conviction has posed some problems, as one might imagine,” Sabbadini said.
She also has not yet engaged in the restorative justice aspect of her sentence, which calls for her at some point to meet with Islamic Center members in a facilitated setting to discuss the harm caused by the offense.
Dr. Joan Gerbasi, the psychiatrist who has been meeting weekly with Kirk-Coehlo, opined in a report that engaging in restorative justice would be “premature” at this point.
Kirk-Coehlo, 31, who attended the hearing along with her parents, stood silently next to Sabbadini and his co-counsel David Dratman as they delivered the update.
She was arrested in February, about three weeks after being caught on surveillance video smashing windows, damaging bicycles and wrapping raw bacon — pork is a prohibited food in the Muslim religion — around door handles at the Russell Boulevard mosque during the early morning of Jan. 22.
Davis police later revealed that Kirk-Coehlo espoused radical beliefs on social media, writing of having “dreams and aspirations” of killing people, glorifying Charleston, S.C. church shooter Dylann Roof and researching a mosque bombing in Quebec.
Her case was at the preliminary hearing stage in April when Kirk-Coehlo suddenly pleaded guilty to the charges in full, her attorneys saying she wanted to take responsibility for her actions early on.
Maguire sentenced Kirk-Coehlo on June 16 to five years’ probation despite a request from prosecutor Ryan Couzens to impose prison time, saying she lacked remorse and continued to pose a public safety risk.
“It is my sincere hope that she proves me wrong. I’m very happy to see the efforts that she’s making,” Couzens said during Friday’s review.
Couzens also urged the court to working toward engaging in a restorative justice process, “to make that a workable goal.”
Maguire agreed, setting another review hearing for June 15, 2018, and asking the Yolo County Probation Department to weigh in on restorative justice efforts at that time.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene