Mother fights home arrest of suspect in son’s slaying

Nearly a year ago, Jocelyn Mull’s teenage son was shot and killed by an alleged gang member in a Hollywood parking lot. Los Angeles police arrested a 17-year-old suspect soon after, but in what prosecutors called a “highly unusual” move, the judge released the suspect to home arrest.

Ever since, Mull, 36, has waged a campaign to have the suspected gunman tried as an adult and held in jail. On Friday, that campaign took her and prosecutors to Juvenile Court, where attorneys argued the case in a closed session.

“This is too loose,” Mull said afterward, as she stood outside Eastlake Juvenile Courthouse, east of downtown. “Juveniles who commit murder should not be allowed home.”

Eron Mull was 18 and a popular drummer at Crenshaw High School when he was killed. Prosecutors have declined to identify the suspected killer, who has since turned 18, because the case remains in Juvenile Court.

On Friday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Referee Cynthia Loo decided there was enough evidence to consider charging the youth as an adult -- and sent him home until his next court hearing. Unlike in adult court, juvenile suspects are released without bail.

“We think this guy belongs in adult court, where he can go to state prison,” said R. Dan Murphy, head deputy assistant district attorney for juvenile cases in the northern division, which handled the case.

Jocelyn Mull has become consumed by her son’s case. She attends every court hearing, has read her son’s autopsy report several times and can recite sections aloud -- how the bullet entered his neck and traveled down into his lungs before lodging in his spine.

She remembers exactly how long the coroner said it took for Eron to die: 127 seconds.

Mull said she plans to read a victim impact statement at a future court hearing. Maybe, she said, that will finally persuade Loo to transfer the suspect’s case to adult court and jail him until he stands trial.

Police arrested the suspect Jan. 17, the Thursday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, and took him to Central Juvenile Hall. By law, prosecutors had 48 hours to charge him. Because of the holiday, he wasn’t charged until Jan. 22.

Loo decided the youth should have been charged no later than Jan. 18. Because he had been held too long, Loo was obligated by law to release him, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

“It was a disagreement between us, the district attorney’s office and the court,” said Wendy Berndt, supervising detective on the case with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood homicide unit.

Prosecutors gathered more evidence and arrested the youth again Feb. 14. But Loo decided they still did not have enough evidence and released him June 30, Robison said.

Loo did not return phone calls Friday. A former staff attorney at the Children’s Law Center, she was appointed eight years ago as a referee, a position similar to a Juvenile Court judge, and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Superior Court judge this fall.

Presiding Juvenile Court Judge Michael Nash said it is “fairly uncommon” for youths charged with murder to be released. He said he could not discuss Mull’s case because of confidentiality concerns.

“The court takes a protective stance when it comes to children,” Berndt said.

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molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com