Didier Cohen has managed to convince a Los Angeles judge to allow him to stay in rehab after being accused of viciously attacking his father and stepmother.
The former star of Australia’s Next Top Model, 41, was arrested in June last year and charged with a series of brutal crimes that saw him face up to eight years in prison.
However, the actor and DJ will now walk free, provided he continues to participate in an outpatient rehabilitation program to treat his ‘mental disorder’.
As long as Cohen, now called Meyer Love Moquin, stays out of trouble for two years, his nine felonies will be dismissed.
The American-born TV star was charged with crimes that LA prosecutors said in the indictment “involved great violence, great bodily harm, threats of great bodily harm and other acts evoking a high degree of cruelty, cruelty and callousness.”
He was accused of breaking into the $4 million Malibu home his 72-year-old father, David Cohen, shares with his stepmother, Avesta Saaty, 52, attacking his father with a bottle, assaulting Saaty and kidnapping them both.
Didier Cohen, 41, has managed to convince a Los Angeles judge to allow him to stay in rehab after being accused of brutally attacking his father and stepmother
Cohen, who was supposed to be providing elderly care for his father, was also accused of threatening the lives of both Cohen Sr and Saaty and vandalizing Saaty’s car.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The LA district attorney has urged Judge Andrea Thompson to send him to trial, where he could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison if the jury convicts him.
But Cohen’s lawyer Charlie Unger, who managed to get his client released on $300,000 (AU$417,676) bail after spending five months in jail, filed a motion claiming the troubled ex-model suffers from a “mental disorder.”
Unger suggested that Cohen should be released into a supervised “mental health diversion program,” which would allow him to avoid prison and live freely, as long as he complies with the program’s rules and conditions.
Prosecutors vehemently objected to the diversion program, reminding Judge Thompson that “serious injuries were caused to the victims in this case.”
The judge ordered Cohen, who has a 4-year-old daughter, Marigold, from his ex-partner Chanel Wolf, to be examined by a psychiatrist and other mental health experts.
This week, after speaking to experts and victims, Judge Thompson ruled in Cohen’s favor, ruling that he is “eligible and fit” for a two-year mental health treatment, rather than sending him for a jury trial that could lead to prison time.
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The former star of Australia’s Next Top Model was arrested in June last year and charged with a series of brutal crimes that saw him jailed for eight years
“The defendant has been diagnosed with a mental disorder … and has been diagnosed or treated for this disorder for the past five years,” the judge wrote in a written statement.
‘The suspect’s psychological disorder played an important role in the commission of the offense charged.
‘In the opinion of a qualified mental health professional, the symptoms of the mental disorder causing, contributing to, or motivating the criminal behavior would respond to mental health treatment.
“The suspect will not pose an unreasonable risk of endangering public safety if treated in the community.”
The judge noted that Cohen had already lived in a residential drug and mental health treatment center for the past eight months and ordered him to remain an outpatient in a program at a similar rehabilitation hospital for the next two years.
But she warned him that if for any reason he drops out of the program, stops taking his doctor-prescribed medications or refuses to comply with random drug tests during the two years, he will be brought to trial on the original charges.
The judge also imposed a number of stricter conditions, telling Cohen that he must not: own, use or possess “dangerous or deadly weapons,” including guns or knives; use force or violence against any person, or ‘annoy, harass or harass’ his father or Saaty; possess, use, possess or sell illegal drugs, or associate with drug users or dealers.
If he is caught violating any of these rules in the next two years, it will mean a quick trip back to court and a possible eight years in prison.
It appears that Cohen has now decided to use his newfound freedom to focus on what appears to be a new fashion label.
He shared a series of images and videos on Instagram last Tuesday, the only post found on his account that has been completely deleted of all his old posts.
In the carousel, Cohen shared a look at his recent foray into painting and a sweater decorated with paint splatters and the “Method” logo, apparently his latest business venture.
The photo dump also turned out to contain an X-ray of his skull.
Cohen is pictured on a date at a Myer event in Melbourne in February 2017
Cohen is seen left with Jennifer Hawkins, Alex Perry and Cheyenne Tozzi in Sydney in 2015
Cohen was arrested last June and accused of attacking his father with a bottle, assaulting his stepmother, kidnapping them both and threatening to kill them, among other alleged crimes.
Unger filed the motion, arguing that his client is a troubled man who should not be in jail and that supervised mental health treatment would be more appropriate.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles fought Cohen’s attempt to avoid a criminal trial and possible prison time.
“People will resist the diversion program,” Deputy District Attorney Frederick Engell told the Daily Mail in May after a brief trial.
At an earlier hearing, Engell told the judge, “In this case, the victims were seriously injured.”
He pointed out that Cohen’s father may have forgiven his son for the attack, saying, “His father is in favor of mental health diversion.”
But he added that Saaty may not be in favor of placing her stepson in a diversion program instead of prison.
Cohen, whose home burned down during the California wildfires, pleaded not guilty to all nine charges against him.
According to the indictment, some of the crimes the former model was accused of “involved great violence, great bodily harm, the threat of great bodily harm, and other acts that revealed a high degree of cruelty, cruelty and callousness.”
In one of the charges, he is alleged to have committed “first-degree burglary” of the home his father and Saaty share in famed Malibu, “with the intent to commit theft or any other crime.”
In count two, Cohen is alleged to have committed “abuse of the elderly or dependents” by “inflicting unjustified physical pain and mental suffering and, under the care and custody of said victim, intentionally placing and causing him to be placed in a situation where his health was endangered.”
In counts three and five, he was accused of kidnapping his father and Saaty ‘by force and by instilling fear’.
Count four alleged that he assaulted his father “with a deadly weapon, namely a glass bottle.”
In count six, he was charged with assaulting Saaty “by force likely to cause great bodily harm.”
In counts seven and eight, he was accused of putting his father and Saaty in fear for their lives by making threats “to commit a crime which would result in death and great bodily harm.”
In the ninth and final indictment against him, Cohen is said to have ‘maliciously’ destroyed Saaty’s car.
The possible sentences for the charges he faced ranged from two to eight years in prison.
Kidnapping carried the highest maximum sentence of eight years, which would likely have been his maximum sentence had he gone to trial and been convicted, as the sentences for other convictions would generally run concurrently.
Cohen already had a taste of life in prison.
After his arrest on June 26 last year, he spent five months behind bars before being released on bail in November.
Prosecutors alleged that at the time of his arrest, he was already “on probation, mandatory supervision, post-release community supervision and parole.”
