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Maddy Middleton's Accused Killer Cannot Be Tried as Adult, State Supreme Court Rules
KSBW ^ | Feb 25, 2021 | Josh Copitch

Posted on 02/26/2021 1:26:07 PM PST by nickcarraway

The California State Supreme Court has issued its ruling on Senate Bill 1391, which was challenged in the case of Adrian “A.J.” Gonzalez, the accused killer of 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton.

In a written opinion issued on Thursday, the court stated that SB 1391 was constitutional. The law, which went into effect in 2019, prevents anyone under the age of 16 years old being tried as an adult.

The Middleton Family released a statement after the supreme court ruling.

"The decision by the California Supreme Court that SB 1391 is constitutional is absolutely disappointing to our family. We have thought long and hard about what we desire from the justice system in regards to this case. No punishment can ever undo what was done or bring our beloved Maddy back to us. However, at the very least, it is our hope that this act does not happen again. We believe that the heinous nature of the crime, level of sophistication and manipulation, planning and cover-up indicates all of the characteristics of a psychopathic killer, who needs to be kept away from our children and society. It is our firm belief that the California Juvenile Justice System, as it exists today, is not capable of adequately dealing with this type of individual. For us, the worst has already happened. We will now see where this path leads," said Dan Middleton, Madyson’s grandfather.

A.J., who is now 21 but was 15-years-old at the time of the crime, allegedly raped and murdered Maddy, could now go free when he turns 25.

In 2019 SB 1391 was ruled unconstitutional by a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge before it was taken to the state supreme court.

In 2020, lawyers argued before the state supreme court on the constitutionality of the law. Some argue it's unconstitutional because it overrides the will of the voters who passed Proposition 57 allowing judges not prosecutors to decide whether minors, including 14 and 15 year olds, should be tried as adults.

“We believe that the California juvenile system, as it stands today, cannot deal with a person such as Adrian Gonzalez we feel that he has to remain in the adult system in order to take care of him. He is not an innocent child that should be coming out when he's 25 years old,” said Dan Middleton, Maddy’s grandfather, in an interview with KSBW 8 in November 2020.

But supporters of SB 1391 argue that prosecutors are politicizing the law and they say juvenile offenders no matter how egregious the crime they allegedly commit should remain in juvenile court where they qualify for release at age 25.

Gonzalez remains behind bars in the Santa Cruz County jail.

Read the Supreme Court of California ruling, here.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; maddiemiddleton; murder; rape; santacruz
This law was passed 4 years after the crime, why does it apply? If they passed a law in in 2019 that said all 15 year olds must be charged as an adult, it would apply, because it was passed later?

He's already 21, so does this mean he goes free now?

I will say it would be an obstacle for the defense attorney to have an adult male sitting at the defense table, when he was 15 when he committed the crime.

It was a tragedy when we have children killing children.


1 posted on 02/26/2021 1:26:07 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: martin_fierro

Santa Cruz Ping


2 posted on 02/26/2021 1:27:44 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Judges are just scumbag lawyers who got promoted for being ‘really good scumbags’.
I have a healthy fear of them,(pitbulls too), but no respect.
Contempt would be a better word...


3 posted on 02/26/2021 1:32:20 PM PST by glasseye (Don't overestimate the decency of the human race. H. L. Mencken)
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To: nickcarraway

WIKI - The California Supremes and who appointed them

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_justices_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_California

Carol Corrigan January 4, 2006 Present Governor Schwarzenegger
Tani Cantil-Sakauye* January 3, 2011 Present Governor Schwarzenegger
Goodwin Liu September 1, 2011 Present Governor J. Brown
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar January 5, 2015 Present Governor J. Brown
Leondra R. Kruger January 5, 2015 Present Governor J. Brown
Joshua P. Groban January 3, 2019 Present Governor J. Brown
Martin Jenkins December 4, 2020 Present Governor Newsom


4 posted on 02/26/2021 1:32:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!! In CONgre$$ WE're Disgusted!! NMP!)
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To: nickcarraway

WIKI - The California Supremes and who appointed them

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_justices_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_California

Carol Corrigan January 4, 2006 Present Governor Schwarzenegger
Tani Cantil-Sakauye* January 3, 2011 Present Governor Schwarzenegger
Goodwin Liu September 1, 2011 Present Governor J. Brown
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar January 5, 2015 Present Governor J. Brown
Leondra R. Kruger January 5, 2015 Present Governor J. Brown
Joshua P. Groban January 3, 2019 Present Governor J. Brown
Martin Jenkins December 4, 2020 Present Governor Newsom


5 posted on 02/26/2021 1:32:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!! In CONgre$$ WE're Disgusted!! NMP!)
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To: nickcarraway

He knew right from wrong when he did it.

He should have paid. But this is the state we are in now.

The Left wants to give the vote to 12 year old kids, presumably to allow them to enter into contracts, have consensual sexual relations, and everything else they can get.

But they will still maintain that a 12 year old, legally allowed to vote and have consensual sex, is incapable of knowing right from wrong.

This is why cognitive dissonance in them creates such hateful and twisted people on the Left.

Sick.


6 posted on 02/26/2021 1:34:31 PM PST by rlmorel ("I’d rather enjoy a risky freedom than a safe servitude." Robby Dinero, USMC Veteran, Gym Owner)
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To: nickcarraway

No. It is murder, has always been murder, when ANY PERSON deliberately assaults and rapes and kills ANY victim.

He - and his self-called “juvenile defenders” and promoters - are gaming the system so he will be able to go out and rape against.


7 posted on 02/26/2021 1:37:11 PM PST by Robert A Cook PE (Method, motive, and opportunity: No morals, shear madness and hatred by those who cheat.)
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To: Robert A Cook PE

Who said it was not murder? No one said that.


8 posted on 02/26/2021 1:49:33 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

If I ever get anywhere near this POS he’s dying.


9 posted on 02/26/2021 1:49:57 PM PST by Bullish (CNN is what happens when 8th graders run a cable network.)
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To: glasseye

“Scumbag” is way too kind. People who would want to set someone like this free are inhuman monsters.


10 posted on 02/26/2021 1:55:20 PM PST by Bullish (CNN is what happens when 8th graders run a cable network.)
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To: nickcarraway

Many years ago, in what now seems like a previous life, I worked as a teacher in a juvenile prison. I worked with two murders. Both were, I think 13 when they killed. The first, along with his twin killed his step-father and left their step-mother for dead, not for a lack of trying to kill her. (I know, two step parents—complicated). The other helped his friend kill his friend’s mother—with an axe.

According to the law at the time, both were released on their 18th birthdays, with of course their records expunged. Technically, they weren’t convicted of murder in juvenile court, but rather were declared delinquent. Thus the first murderer (and his brother) shared the insurance settlement with their step-mother. I’ve been told that such a thing can’t happen, but I saw the check that was deposited into the killer’s canteen account.


11 posted on 02/26/2021 1:57:53 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: nickcarraway

Any family worth their salt would have put this scum into the ground a long time ago...


12 posted on 02/26/2021 2:29:05 PM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is Joe McCarthy now that we desperately need him sober?)
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To: nickcarraway
At 15 He was charged with one count of murder, (with) special circumstances involving sexual offenses, lying in wait, and kidnapping,....Maddy was strangled and stabbed to death.


13 posted on 02/26/2021 2:37:21 PM PST by caww
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To: hanamizu

Do you know if they reoffended, etc?


14 posted on 02/26/2021 2:44:16 PM PST by Levy78
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To: Carry_Okie; clamper1797; EggsAckley; expat_brit; hedgetrimmer; Jack Black; jahp; Regulator; ...
h/t to nickcarraway

CЯUZIO
Send FReepmail if you want on/off the SANTA CЯUZ COUNTY CA ping list
Click for Santa Cruz, California Forecast
This is why we can't have nice things
The List of Ping Lists

15 posted on 02/26/2021 2:56:55 PM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Levy78

Do you know if they reoffended, etc?


Have no idea. I heard that the twin brother of the kid I had (he’d be pushing 60 now) drowned—he was at a different facility. I left the ‘youth center’ before either were released and don’t know what became of them.


16 posted on 02/26/2021 3:00:31 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: caww

.............letting this creep off with ten years will guarantee more Maddie’s are similarly butchered. There must be a degree of accountability for any official paroling one of these bastards. At a rock bottom minimum, they should be fired from their job IF they let people like this out and they kill again.

I think where The Left is confused is not understanding that the most egregious criminals, like this one, should NEVER get out. But, as opposed to NOTHING, something bad should happen to parole board members who let one out that kills again.


17 posted on 02/26/2021 3:07:42 PM PST by Cen-Tejas
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To: nickcarraway

I am watching a YT video about serial killers [Ed Kemper, Gerald Schaeffer, Ottis Toole] and they made a real point about the fantasies started for these men while they were still in elementary school. Very young, maybe 9 or 10 the motivation was already there. People who are this sick are not curable.


18 posted on 02/26/2021 3:25:32 PM PST by Bearshouse
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To: nickcarraway

Maybe they can give him last rites and a cigarette...


19 posted on 02/26/2021 9:27:07 PM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: Cen-Tejas

Teenagers ‘think’ of all sorts of foolish and dangerous ideas these days but rarely think of the consequences if they carry these out. Rather they want to see how the public reacts.


20 posted on 02/27/2021 12:24:15 AM PST by caww
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