Teen Loses Bid to Be Tried as Juvenile

A Ventura County judge refused Tuesday to send a murder case involving a 17-year-old Oxnard boy to Juvenile Court, ruling that prosecutors have the legal discretion to charge the teen as an adult.

Superior Court Judge Glen Reiser’s decision is the first in this county to tackle the constitutionality of a tough new juvenile crime law being challenged in courts throughout the state.

Proposition 21 was approved by 62% of voters in March and gives prosecutors, not judges, the right to decide whether teens should be charged as adults in certain felony cases.

So far this year, prosecutors say they have filed half a dozen felony cases directly to adult court.

But Isaac Lara is the first to face murder charges. He is accused of gunning down a 21-year-old Santa Paula woman last month and has yet to enter a plea.

Defense attorneys oppose prosecuting Lara as an adult, arguing that the new law is flawed and violates their client’s rights.

Deputy Public Defender William Markov told Reiser during Tuesday’s hearing that the powers of the judiciary and the rights of juveniles have been unlawfully stripped by Proposition 21.

Markov said there is no room for review--by a judge or jury--of a prosecution decision to charge a teen in adult court.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. John West argued that the measure does not violate either state or federal law by giving prosecutors the power to decide how to charge criminal cases.

He noted that prosecutors have the same authority when deciding whether to seek the death penalty in a capital murder case.

After an hourlong hearing, Reiser ruled that prosecutors historically had the right to charge juveniles in adult court and lost that power when the juvenile court system was created decades ago.

“I don’t see a constitutional violation,” the judge ruled, although he also noted that the issue will ultimately be resolved by a higher court.

Markov said Tuesday his office should decide by the end of the week whether to appeal the decision to the appellate court.