As a teacher lined up children’s scooters by the school gate on Bartlett street, Rashawn Williams family and friends gathered with signs and microphone to encourage parents to sign a petition.
The online petition at change.org has 647 signatures of two million that they need to gather in an effort to ask District Attorney’s office to charge the juvenile that stabbed Williams as an adult.
On September 2nd, 14-year old Rashawn Williams was stabbed to death outside Rubin’s Market on Folsom and 26th Streets by another 14 year old. Both teens had attended Buena Vista Horace Mann. William’s mother was alerted by her other two children who were with the victim at the time of the incident. The mother took her son to the California Pacific Medical St. Lukes Campus where paramedics then rushed him to SFGH, where he died of his wounds.
The 14-year old that stabbed him was charged with willful murder with a knife and is scheduled to appear in court on October 21st to be charged as a minor. This means that if convicted he will be released no later than 23 years old. The criminal justice argument behind charging him as a minor is that he is in fact a minor and charging him as an adult will lengthen the sentence and make rehabilitation more difficult.
Parents from the school where the defendant began to harass Williams differed on what should happen. As they circled the Bartlett block in their cars to pick up their children, they observed the protest and some signed the petition. Others did not.
“He deserves it. Nobody should take another person’s life. He doesn’t have the right to take someone’s life. I don’t believe that he didn’t know what he was doing. He can tell from good and bad,” said María Chel in Spanish, a mother of two who signed the petition.
“I think it’s possible that the kid didn’t realize what he had done until he did it”, said Byron Castanon, who has two children at the K-8 school.
“I understand the two sides of this coin. But, at the same time what the other one did… they don’t think as an adult at 14. I think until they turn 20 they do. But he should face the consequences as a minor,” said Alicia Garcia, who has a child in first grade and one adult son. “We don’t know what his mental state was,” she concluded.
Holding a sign in the more than 30 people crowd was Karolyn Green, a close friend of the family. “Parents are the first teachers. It’s the key to everyone. It has to start at home, its the baseline. I believe he should be charged as an adult because he plotted, planned and executed what he wanted to do, cold-hearted and calculated. He had the mindset of an adult and that’s how he should be charged or else the system’s been failed because they were outsmarted by a boy”
Maria MacMurray, Williams’s aunt, considered the protest to be an opportunity for people to consider signing the petition. “The petition is letting people know we saw constant harassment, stalking involved, planning. These are actions of not a child and a violent crime was committed,” she said. “We want a fair sentence,” she said of the difficulty of what that question poses.
The family is also considering a lawsuit against the school district, which they told the San Francisco Chronicle, failed to intervene effectively.
Williams’s uncle, Charlie Morales, felt sentencing the assailant as a minor would give the message that the City lets off minors for extreme violence and considers the incident that stemmed from bullying and harassment to be a hate crime. “He should be charged as an adult because of the circumstance,” he said as the protest moved to Valencia Street.
This is the second time the family has held an action to encourage people to sign. Last October 2nd, family and friends gathered outside 850 Bryant. This time they are hoping to gather enough signatures by the time they meet with the DA’s office on the 14th.
Kathy DeRosas was on her way to a Day of the Dead celebration with her two children when she ran into the protest on Valencia. After taking a few minutes to take in the incident, she mentioned that “it’s more complex than we think. It’s sad for both families, they are both loosing their child,” she said.
Why didn’t Andrea Valencia discusses the third option. I am thinking WHY is this the Third option and not the Second Option? What is the third option? It is a dual sentence. However this only works if the defendant is willing to plead guilty through a Plea Agreement.
The suspect is first sentenced in the Juvenile Courts to Juvenile Detention. The suspect then goes to the Adult Court, and again pleads guilty to the agreed on Plea deal. At which time the Judge is allowed to use Juvenile Sentencing, and dependent on:
the facts of the case
The Psychological Testing
Complete Background Check – was the suspect involved in a Gang? – does the suspect of a
criminal history? – if suspect does have priors, were they also violent crimes?
At which time the Judge will have a clear picture of the suspect, and will be able to determine the chances the suspect has of being rehabilitated.
(If it is proved that the suspect has a long history of Violent Crime, Gang Affiliation, etc. as
well as poor psychological evaluation, then the Juvenile Court has the option of Binding the suspect over to be tried as an Adult, BUT will serve the first part of their sentence (until they are 21 or state mandated age) in a Juvenile Maximum facility, where they will be given the opportunity to turn their lives around, get therapy, an education, and job training. IF when they go before the Judge for review and Adult portion of the sentence, IF they have seized the opportunity and turned themselves around, they have the opportunity of getting the Judge to change their designation and become eligible for parole release in as little as 2 years.
The Judge will sentence said suspect to Juvenile Detention until they are 21 (or what state has as limit). While here, the Juvenile will be given the opportunity to get their education, get psychotherapy, and job training, as well as punishment (most of their time is in their cell), they do get out for class, exercise yard, and mess hall (mess hall is a major part of the rehabilitation process, as they are forced to learn manners, and socializing. At age 21 or state mandated age they are then transferred to the Adult System, where the Judge will be given a full report on the suspect over the years that they spent in Juvenile Detention, Psychological Evaluations, write-ups, accomplishments, and look at their caseworkers recommendations, If the suspect has proved themselves, and will be able to get out and get a job, and would be very unlikely to return to Detention (whether County or State), the Judge would look at the minimum sentence available to them, as there would be no min/maxes. just a straight sentencing. and would then determine when they should be eligible for their first parole hearing after at least 6 months with a discharge date of 15 years..
Family and friends still have the right to attend the Parole Hearing, HOWEVER, before they
are allowed to speak, they will hear a full oral and visual report from the suspects
caseworker.
After the report the Board will ask for any comments or statements from the victim / victim’s family and/or friends.
After which the Board will convene (for up to an hour) for deliberations and decision. They will then return and issue their decision.
If However the suspect did not seem to grasp their opportunity, The Judge again has the ability to determine if it is more punishment, therapy and/or education, if this is the case the Judge has the opportunity to set the first Parole Hearing for up to 5 years with a discharge date of 25 years.
Thus giving the youth the opportunity to turn their life around. It will also show other Juveniles that even though they are minors and can not be placed in an Adult Prison, they can STILL get heavy duty Detention, and then go to Adult Prison for up to 25 years.
So we are still teaching the young that if you do the crime you will do the time, it just wont be with adults until after you are 21.
baseline, not bassline.
loosing, not losing.
Don’t reporters have to pass a grammar/spelling test before they’re allowed to write?
Cynthia: Thank you. Our copyeditor caught the mistakes and I am just seeing this now, but we can always use more eyes on stories so keep reading carefully. Thank you, Lydia
I am not blaming the mother but why did she bring him to St. Lukes?, SFGH is known to everyone as having one of the best trauma units in the entire country. Probably one of the worst places for a general checkup but the only choice for trauma other than maybe Stanford. Hope fully some good can out of this and people will rush to SFGH because ever second is crucial in this type of situation and can save your life or someone you loves life.