NEWS ANALYSIS : Fire Case Focuses Attention on Juvenile Court

Two weeks after fire destroyed his home in the Crest de Ville section of Orange, John O’Neill finds himself scanning the papers and tuning in his radio for any word about the 17-year-old suspected of starting the blaze that also gutted a neighbor’s home and damaged 29 others.

“I keep waiting to hear something, but so far, no news,” said O’Neill, a businessman who is moving with his wife and three sons into a rental home this weekend. “When you walk through the house and there’s nothing left, you want to grab that kid and his parents and say, ‘Come on over, look, this is what you did.’ I’d like to know what is going to happen to him.”

As fire victims struggle to recover from the arson firestorm that terrorized Southern California, the 17-year-old from Anaheim has become the obvious target of outrage and public interest since his arrest on suspicion of starting the fire.

But O’Neill and other fire victims have been left in the dark about what charges--if any--the teen-ager faces. On Wednesday, Orange County Juvenile Court Referee James Odriozola ordered court proceedings kept secret and banned defense and prosecuting attorneys from revealing any information about the case.

The case focuses attention on the difficult, sometimes conflicting mission of the juvenile court system, which must punish the guilty, protect the public and also attempt to protect the privacy of youthful offenders and rehabilitate them.

“There is a greater push to treat juveniles as adults when they try to commit adult-type crimes but the juvenile system also says, ‘We want to protect the juvenile’s future from taint, if possible,’ ” said UCLA law professor Erwin Chemerinsky.

State law allows public access to juvenile courts when children are charged with certain serious crimes, including murder, arson and kidnaping. The court must decide on a case-by-case basis whether the suspect will be tried as an adult or, if the case stays in juvenile court, whether the public interest in the case outweighs the youngster’s right to confidentiality.

While court officials are concerned with keeping the Anaheim youth’s identity and the details of his case under wraps, his name is no secret on the street, where many residents in the youth’s neighborhood openly discussed the incident. His friends and a former coach say the youth, a high school dropout, is a “good kid” who would never intentionally set a fire.

Authorities said the teen-ager and four friends were hanging out, drinking and smoking in a wooded area in Anaheim Hills when the fire started. Police were led to the youth after acquaintances told someone who alerted police.

Fire officials said Tuesday that they believe the fire was clearly arson. And, before the court’s gag order, prosecutors said they were trying to determine whether the youth should be tried as an adult or face lesser charges if the incident turned out to be an accident.

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“There’s an order by the court not to say anything about the case and we’re not in the business of violating these orders,” said Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Maurice Evans on Thursday, noting that attorneys could be slapped with a contempt citation if they do. “I wouldn’t try to read anything into this case.”

But as juvenile crime increases across Orange County and elsewhere, some authorities are having second thoughts about when to hold youths--particularly older teens--accountable.

“Juveniles, especially over the age of 15--and this guy is 17, almost 18--should be identified when they are involved in serious crimes like this,” said Orange Police Chief John R. Robertson, whose jurisdiction includes the two homes gutted. “I think he should be identified.”

Robertson lends his voice to many of Orange County’s top law enforcement officials who earlier this year recommended greater public scrutiny of juvenile crimes in hope that the attention will help focus resources on combatting the growing problem.

Even Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno, who oversees the county’s juvenile proceedings, has called for greater public access in cases involving serious juvenile crimes. Briseno is on vacation this week and was not involved in handling the 17-year-old’s case.

Violent crime by Orange County youths increased 44.6% during the past decade in Orange County, according to the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pennsylvania. And the homicide arrest rate for juveniles is rising at the same time it is decreasing for adults, says the California Department of Justice.

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Assistant Prof. Gregory C. Brown, who teaches criminal justice at Chapman University in Orange, said the juvenile justice system often balances its burden by limiting access at the start, and then opening up a case to the public once additional information about the facts are available.

“If this turns out to be an accident involving a good kid who has never had so much as a traffic ticket, is it fair to splash his name all over the place?” said Brown. He said the system has a vested interest in allowing youths to get their lives back on track, because otherwise the public can expect to see them again in adult court.

Attorney Harold F. La Flamme, who often represents children in dependency cases, said the system also helps to protect youths who may be exploited by the media.

A shoplifting charge would not draw public interest, but if the child’s parents were celebrities, the youth would be unfairly focused on, La Flamme said. “I think the law is recognizing that young people don’t have the judgment, allegedly anyway, that older folks do,” he said.

O’Neill and other fire victims say they have mixed feelings on the issue when they face the same conflicts the juvenile justice system tries to juggle on a daily basis.

“The act that he did, if indeed the allegations are true, certainly was adult enough,” said Bill Davis, whose home in the Crest de Ville section of Orange was threatened by the fire but not damaged. “Perhaps (information about the case) should be released. But if it was a mistake, or an accident, maybe it shouldn’t be.”