DA challenges new juvenile prosecution law
Setting the stage for a legal challenge against a new state law that bars 14- and 15-year-old offenders from being charged as adults, prosecutors questioned its constitutionality Tuesday during a hearing involving a teenager convicted of brutally slaying his classmate in South San Jose.
As he did before and after Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 1391 into law last month, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen and his office raised the case of Jae Williams, one of two teens who stabbed 15-year-old Michael Russell in 2009 in what became known as the “thrill kill,” or Devil Boys murder.
Williams’ case went to juvenile court after a state Supreme Court decision in February determined that Proposition 57 — a criminal-justice reform law California voters approved in November 2016 — applied retroactively to cases not finalized. Williams’ case was still active because it was on appeal.
Rosen contends that SB 1391 unlawfully subverts Proposition 57 — which transferred the power to charge juveniles as adults from prosecutors to judges — by removing judges from the equation when it comes to 14- and 15-year-olds.
“When an initiative is passed, the only thing that can change an initiative is another initiative, not a law passed by the Legislature,” Rosen said Tuesday. “The question for the court will be whether the legislation furthers the interest of the
initiative, and we believe that the legislation does not further the interests of the initiative, because it says judges can’t make this decision.”
Juvenile justice advocates criticized Rosen for making a last-ditch effort to block a growing reform movement based on the idea that youth offenders, given their stage of mental development, should not be routinely dismissed as hardened criminals.
“It’s disappointing to see the District Attorney’s Office is still trying to circumvent what has been signed into law,” said Sajid Khan, an attorney with the county Alternate Defender’s Office. “Prop. 57 was part of a continuum of juvenile justice
reform in the state. … SB 1391 is just the next step forward.”
Rosen said he recognizes the broader cause of rehabilitating teen offenders, but said SB 1391 does not take into account people who are past redemption.
“There are dangerous exceptions,” he said.
At a Tuesday hearing for Williams — who was transferred from a state prison in Vacaville to Santa Clara County juvenile detention over the summer as he appeals his case — prosecutors set the wheels in motion for challenging the new law by requesting a transfer hearing to send Williams back to prison. The matter will be revisited Nov. 27.
With family members of Michael Russell and supporters packing a small juvenile courtroom, Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Powell noted that SB 1391 is not yet law until Jan. 1, but requested the hearing so they can leave the door open to challenge the law when it does go into effect.
Powell also cited a new probation report prepared for the 24-year-old Williams recommending that his case should be handled by the adult court system. Williams’ attorney, Lewis Romero, asked for time to prepare their own report that would utilize expert testimony and, presumably, prevailing research long cited by juvenile justice advocates showing that teens’ developing brains make them less aware of consequences and more malleable to rehabilitation.
Cathy Russell, Michael Russell’s aunt, attended the Tuesday hearing and afterward sought to remind the public how Williams — who was 15 at the time — and codefendant Randy Thompson sadistically decided to kill her nephew. Both she and Powell detailed how Williams had first tortured animals, then befriended Michael and plotted his murder to see what it was like to kill a human being.
“He’s going to be able to live a free life,” Cathy Russell said, “and here we are having to hold onto this with no justice. The last nine years have been like a slap in the face.”
Thompson was given a hearing in June with the aim of being transferred to juvenile court to reduce his incarceration. His request was denied and he is serving his original 26year sentence at San Quentin State Prison. Thompson’s case is not affected by SB 1391 because he was 16 when he killed Michael Russell.
Other victim families in high-profile cases involving teen killers throughout the state have taken a similar tack in railing against the new law, including relatives of Madyson “Maddy” Middleton, the 8-year-old Santa Cruz girl sexually assaulted and slain in 2015. Adrian “A.J.” Gonzalez, who was 15 at the time, has been charged with her murder.
Reform advocates have addressed those impassioned pleas by arguing that people like Williams are exceptions whose punishment should not be prioritized over reclaiming the lives of countless youth offenders — often victims of trauma themselves — who can be transformed through education and counseling.
“We should not be making law based on unique or exceptional circumstances or offenders,” Khan said.
Khan also cited a passage in Brown’s written explanation for signing SB 1391 in which the governor pointed out that certain mechanisms and an evaluation process are currently in place to keep particularly dangerous offenders in custody after they’ve timed out of juvenile incarceration. Prosecutors disagree, arguing that such evaluations are narrow in scope and only apply if a juvenile offender has a serious physical or mental deficiency.
Rosen restated that skepticism Tuesday.
“Jae Williams will be released in July,” he said unequivocally. “This is not justice, and it’s not community safety.”