Lawmaker wants life sentence reform for juvenile offenders

"California’s juvenile sentencing laws can certainly be made more just,” Yee said in an announcement of Senate Bill 999, the California Juvenile Life Without Parole Reform Act.

"Sentencing youth who commit horrible crimes to life in prison is one thing, but prohibiting even some cases from the possibility of parole is plainly unacceptable,” Yee said.

District Attorney Jim Fox, however, thinks Yee’s bill will be unacceptable to the California District Attorney’s Association.

Fox co-chairs the CDAA’s legislative committee, scheduled to meet Thursday, and believes the association will agree that Yee’s bill is not the best method of handling juvenile offenders facing such extreme sentencing.

"We’re talking about people who if they were 18 would be looking at the death penalty,” Fox said.

California’s Proposition 21 allows prosecutors to charge juveniles as adults in a host of felony crimes, such as sexual assault and gag activity. Under the law, any juvenile charged with murder and special circumstances must be tried as an adult.

Yee’s bill proposes changing the Penal Code to prohibit a juvenile who commits a crime from being sentenced to more than 25 years to life in prison. The offender could not see parole until the 25 years minimum was completed.

Approximately 200 juveniles in the state are currently serving life without a parole — the alternative to capital punishment for first-degree murder and special circumstances. While juveniles 14 and older can be tried as adult, they cannot face the death penalty. The default then becomes life in prison without parole.

If passed, Yee’s bill could be applicable to the youngest boy ever charged with murder as an adult in San Mateo County. Josue Orozco, 16, was 14 when arrested and charged with the July 12, 2005 murder of Francisco Rodriguez in Redwood City. He and his adult codefendant, Faustino Ayala, both face life in prison without parole when tried in July because District Attorney Jim Fox opted against capital punishment in the accused accomplice’s case.

Prosecutors believe Orozco was the triggerman, Ayala drove the getaway car and three other juveniles, including Orozco’s younger brother, were in the vehicle. The trio of minors are still awaiting a verdict in juvenile court.

Since his arrest, Orozco’s defense attorney Ray Buenaventura has argued against his being tried as an adult on charges of murder and gang allegation.

Buenaventura did not return a call for comment about Yee’s proposal but in January 2006, during a hearing about his client’s adult status, argued "the minor Orozco has a right to be treated differently because of his young age and appearance.” Judge Craig Parsons ruled the California law allowing minors to be charged as adults for serious crimes does not violate the Eight Amendment barring cruel and unusual punishment.

Deputy District Attorney Al Giannini, who is prosecuting Orozco, said the age of the defendant has nothing to do with the harm done to the victim or the pain and suffering of the family.

"Some folks are just monsters and are not worth the risk of turning them loose on a vulnerable population,” Giannini said.

Judges still have the discretion to strike the special allegations lodged against juveniles which would make them eligible for parole, Giannini said.

In December 2004, Judge Stephen Hall considered such a reduction for convicted quadruple killer Raul Campos who was 17 when he participated in the execution-style shooting of four in a San Bruno apartment. Hall decided against striking the special allegation and Campos received the same life in prison without parole sentence as his adult codefendant.

According to Giannini, who also prosecuted Campos, a juvenile offender won’t necessarily be better suited for release after 25 years in prison.

Yee, however, notes his background as a child psychologist and said life without sentences leave minors without access to programs and rehabilitation.

Fox, though, said rehabilitation is the purview of juvenile, not adult, court.

Yee was spurred to introduce the bill to end the sentencing practice in general rather than a specific case, such as Orozco, said spokesman Adam Keigwin.

Only 12 juveniles in the world outside of the United States are serving the term, he said.

"California is out of step with international standards of justice,” Michelle Leighton, director of human rights programs at the Center for La and Global Justice at the University of San Francisco, added to Yee’s bill announcement.

Yee’s proposal comes on the heels of the highly-publicized 36 years to life sentence for James Ortega, the youngest person in the state charged and convicted of murder as an adult. Ortega, of San Jose, was 14 years old in 2004 when he fatally shot two teens at a Jack in the Box restaurant in San Jose during a gang-related melee. Ortega, now 17, pleaded no contest last November to avoid a life without parole sentence.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.