Juvenile Resentenced Following Reversal By Court of Appeal

February 2021

Our client, who was a minor at the time of his offense, was tried as an adult for murder, vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving causing injury.   He had different counsel at trial.  The jury hung on the murder count but convicted him of vehicular manslaughter and two counts of reckless driving causing injury.  The Judge sentenced him to 10 years in adult prison.  The client appealed his conviction and the Court of Appeal reversed on two separate grounds striking sentencing enhancements and sent the matter back for resentencing.   The decision greatly reduced our client’s exposure and made him eligible for 50% time unlike the 85% he would have served on the 10 year sentence.  Attorneys Michael A. Goldstein and Hagop Kuyumjian filed a motion to transfer the matter back to juvenile court as well as a motion to secure prior time credits not included at the original sentencing.  Following a hearing on the motion, the Court granted our motion for additional credits and sentenced our client to 5 years, 4 months essentially paving the way for his release from prison.  This was a team effort bringing many lawyers together to seek justice.  We are grateful for all who contributed.