Judge Faulted for Sending Teen Killer to Honor Camp

A Vista teen-ager convicted of second-degree murder for the stabbing death of another Vista youth in February has been sentenced to eight months in a juvenile honor camp--over the protests of prosecutors and the county’s Probation Department, which urged that he be sent to the California Youth Authority for more severe punishment.

The sentence was ordered Friday by Juvenile Court Judge Sheridan Reed, who had protested during the protracted proceedings involving the teen-ager that she had only two sentencing options: the county-run honor camp or a more secure CYA facility where the teen-ager would have been committed until he is 25.

Luis Tatenco was convicted last May for the Feb. 19 stabbing death of Rafael Estrada, 16, when a Valentine’s Day dance in a Vista union hall spilled outdoors into a street fight.

Estrada had gotten between Tatenco, 17 at the time, and 21-year-old Augustin Rivera as the two faced off, and Tatenco claimed in court that he stabbed Estrada in self-defense. Rivera was wounded in the incident.

Prosecutors first became angry with Reed when, after finding Tatenco guilty of second-degree murder, she placed him under house arrest, allowing him to stay at home so he could witness the birth of his child and so he could work with his father on a construction job.

More recently, Tatenco was sent to a CYA facility so officials there could evaluate whether a CYA term would be appropriate for him.

“The psychologist and the staff there felt he should stay there,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Carlos Armour, who heads the district attorney’s juvenile branch. “We thought so, too, and so did the Probation Department.”

But Reed instead sentenced Tatenco to an eight-month term at a youth honor camp in East County.

“That’s a place where we send kids who steal things--not kids who are involved in violent offenses,” Armour said Tuesday. “Of course we’re upset. We don’t think people who commit murder should go to that camp. It’s a non-secure facility up in the mountains with no fence around it. It’s not an appropriate place for him.”

Reed could not be reached for comment.