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“For anyone who has done defense work, you know that the wins are few and far between, so much so, that we are ‘redefining wins' constantly. But sometimes, every now and then, there is a straight up WIN. And today, we got that," said Juvenile Justice Clinic director Roshell Amezcua ’14.
On August 30, 2024, Juvenile Justice Clinic secured a deal with the District Attorney’s office, dropping our youth client’s charge from murder in the 1st degree, to a voluntary manslaughter plea with 3 years in a Secure Youth Treatment Facility (STYF).
When the Juvenile Justice Clinic first met their young client, he was facing 25 years to life, awaiting a transfer to adult court.
Elyse Kupfer, JJC’s social worker, spoke to every family member and gathered countless letters of support to submit a 60-page mitigation report in his defense. Center for Juvenile Law and Policy’s Executive Director Sean Kennedy drafted a powerful letter to the deciding committee that ultimately convinced them to keep our client in juvenile court.
The JJC team continued their tireless advocacy, spending hours interviewing witnesses, and visiting scenes.
New JJC student Dustin Essex, ‘26 hit the ground running, reviewed the extraordinarily long discovery and did extensive trial prep, including a mock direct examination of our client.
“I felt excited and honored to be assigned a murder case my first week in the Juvenile Justice Clinic. The stakes are obviously extremely high, and the consequences are real for everybody involved,” said Essex . “I dove into the discovery and made our client the center of my world. As we were gathered in the back room of the chapel at Los Padrinos preparing for trial, Professor Amezcua received the text that the DA's office was offering the deal that we were not sure would come. I will carry that moment and the look on our client's face with me for the rest of my career."
Thanks to the zealous advocacy of the Juvenile Justice Clinic, our client now only faces a few years in STYF instead of decades in adult prison.