No Jail Time Expected for 3 O.C. Girls

The shame of a schoolyard arrest may be the worst punishment three girls will ever suffer for concocting a story that sent a homeless man to jail for eight months for an attack that never happened, juvenile law experts said Tuesday.

The 12-year-old Garden Grove friends were led away in handcuffs Monday in front of their schoolmates at James Irvine Intermediate and Woodbury Elementary schools, each arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and locked up in Juvenile Hall until a detention hearing set for today.

“They’re going to have to live with that humiliation for years to come,” said Jack Earley, an Orange County defense attorney and president of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. “They’ll be remembered in middle school and high school as the girls who got in trouble for making up that story. I think for kids their age, they are learning a very, very big lesson.”

Defense lawyers who work in California’s juvenile system agree that the charges are especially serious because an innocent man, 36-year-old drifter Eric Nordmark, lost his freedom for an extended period of time. But they predicted the girls would be freed after their first court appearance and probably face probation -- rather than incarceration -- with terms that might include curfews and some type of community service.

“In this case, the girls are so young, I really doubt they’re going to be doing any lockup time,” said Patti Lee, the managing attorney in the juvenile division of the public defender’s office in San Francisco.

In California, minors are entitled to a detention hearing within 72 hours of an arrest to determine whether they will be held in juvenile hall until trial or released to a parent or guardian. Juveniles have a right to a trial within 30 days if they are detained or 45 days if they are freed. There are no jury trials in Juvenile Court, and the trials before a Juvenile Court judge often last less than an hour. Like adult courts, some cases are resolved before trial through negotiated settlements.

Shirley MacDonald Juarez, the attorney for one of the girls, said her priority was winning her client’s release at today’s detention hearing. “I am hoping that the judge will see that she is not a danger to society,” she said.

The court’s decision on whether to free the girls before trial will be based mainly on a recommendation from a probation officer, who considers, among other things, any criminal record, family history, school performance and whether the minors are a threat to themselves or their community.

In this case, another factor could be whether releasing the girls would allow them to discuss the case before trial, said Brian L. Ducker, a senior assistant public defender who heads Orange County’s juvenile operations but is not involved in the case of the three girls.

If the case does go to trial, prosecutors will have to prove that the girls knew that lying was wrong and had consequences to it.

Punishment for juveniles -- decided by a judge after consultation with probation officers, prosecutors and defense attorneys -- is largely determined by the individual character of the child as opposed to the nature of the crime.

And the juvenile system is designed to rehabilitate kids in other ways besides locking them up, especially first-time offenders as young as these girls.

The punishments can be as serious as time in a juvenile hall, a work camp or a group home. The court also has the option of placing them on probation with terms that can include community service, curfews and an order that they not be allowed to associate with one another.

“Nothing might happen to these kids if the court sees them as naive or dumb,” Ducker said. “But something a lot worse could happen if they can show that the girls understood what they were doing” and the consequences or their actions.

He added that, unlike in the adult justice system, co-defendants are not necessarily viewed as equals. If one girl is thought to be the leader, she could face more serious punishment than the others.

Though it is common for minors to be tried as adults for certain violent crimes, such a course is very unlikely in this case, Ducker said.

Attorneys Lee and Earley said the girls may not be guilty of anything more than being immature, and simply doing what a lot of kids their age do when they get in trouble: lie to get out of it.

“It sounds like an adolescent tale gone awry,” Lee said.

Juvenile Court proceedings may not be the end of the case, lawyers said. Under state law, the parents could be found liable if Nordmark chooses to sue.