The first of five suspected teenage gang members accused of beating up a 15-year-old boy on Valentine’s Day at Santana Row before one of them allegedly stabbed him to death will serve 2 years in a secure facility at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall, a judge has ruled, a maximum sanction the victim’s family had prayed and protested for.
“I think we made the impossible happen,” said Diana Gutierrez, the aunt of David Gutierrez who died after being stabbed three times, allegedly by the youngest of the fivesome — a 13-year-old who has a court hearing next week. “At the beginning we were told don’t get your hopes up because they will get released and probation, end of story and on to the next kid. We said no, we’re going to fight. We’re heartbroken, but we’re going to fight.”
The family’s ongoing protests, often at 7:30 a.m. with upwards of two dozen friends before hearings began, has brought attention to the sometimes limited consequences facing juvenile criminals and the balance between accountability and rehabilitation.
Alex Adams, supervising deputy district attorney of the juvenile justice team, said sending the 16-year-old to the “secure youth treatment facility” within Juvenile Hall is the “highest level of accountability we have” for juveniles.
“We couldn’t charge murder because he’s not the actual killer,” Adams said.
Deputy Alternative Defender Michelle Todus, who represents the 16-year-old and declined an interview request with the Mercury News Tuesday, had asked the judge to release him home with an electronic ankle monitor. Six to eight-months in a juvenile youth ranch was another option.
But after testimony in court Tuesday from a juvenile probation officer that the teen had been disrespectful to staff and had been in a fight during his time in juvenile hall — along with emotional appeals from David’s mother and grandmother — Judge Andrea Flint on Tuesday imposed the more severe sentence, or “disposition” as it is called in juvenile court, Adams said. The 16-year-old is one of three tried together in juvenile court over the past month. Judge Flint will decide the fate of the others in the coming days.
David’s mother, Veronica Gutierrez, said Tuesday she had expressed to the judge that her only child, a sophomore at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, was “wonderful.” He loved to cook, was involved in boxing classes and was a good student. She and her mother had made a “donut cake” for David that Valentine’s morning that he told them he was anxious to eat after his date later that night.
“I explained to her how difficult my life has been without David and the struggles that I have every single day to even get out of bed,” she said.
She and her husband had dropped off David and his girlfriend a half hour earlier for a dinner date at Santana Row. He was wearing a red jacket to be festive for the holiday and had no gang affiliation, police and his family said.
According to courtroom testimony and surveillance camera footage from Santana Row played in court, David had been fiddling with his phone when the five teenagers, whom police say were drawn to the jacket that was the color of a rival gang, confronted him and started swinging. They beat him to the ground before a security guard broke it up and the attackers fled.
According to the girlfriend’s account summarized in a police affidavit, after David got onto his feet, he ran into the 13-year-old moments later and asked him to fight “one-on-one.” The teen declined, but when David pressed him, the teen took out a knife and stabbed him three times, the affidavit said. The 13-year-old, who has denied the charges, is expected back in court Monday.
The oldest of the five charged in the case, Emmanuel Sanchez-Damian, is 18 and charged with felony assault in adult court. He also has denied the charges. Because the other four charged in the case are juveniles, their names are protected by the court. All five teens were also charged with assaulting a man at a store in Valley Fair earlier in the evening — also captured on surveillance camera. Last week, the judge found two of the 16-year-olds responsible for both attacks and one of them only responsible for the Valley Fair attack. During the attack on David, the third appeared to watch from the sidelines.
Juveniles incarcerated at the hall’s secure facility are given educational opportunities, including junior college classes, as well as mental health therapy and victim awareness classes. If they behave well, the judge can allow them to “step down” to less restrictive settings, including the youth ranch that can prepare them for construction or other trade jobs when they get out.
“Even though David won’t be coming back, they’re going to remember David,” his aunt, Diana Gutierrez, said. “The wheels of justice turn slow, but I’m starting to understand what that battle means, and today is one of those days where we got a win. And it’s a huge win.”