This isn’t a statistical fluke. It reflects a long-standing pattern of racial disparity embedded in how California applies its harshest punishment — one that advocates argue courts can no longer afford to sidestep.

Two years ago, the Office of the State Public Defender, along with several civil rights groups, took an unusual legal path: filing what functions as a civil rights lawsuit directly with the California Supreme Court. The move came after decades in which lower courts repeatedly failed to meaningfully engage with claims of racial bias in capital sentencing.

The petition leans on more than a dozen empirical studies, arguing that the way California carries out capital punishment runs afoul of equal protection guarantees written into the state Constitution. In May, the state Supreme Court agreed the case had merit enough to proceed, sending it to Sacramento Superior Court for further review.

The research cited spans four decades and paints a troubling picture. Black defendants are up to eight times more likely, and Latino defendants up to six times more likely, to be sentenced to death compared with other defendants. Cases involving white victims are also more likely to end in a death sentence than those involving Black or Latino victims.

That bias doesn’t just shape outcomes — it raises the stakes for wrongful convictions. Since 1981, eight people have been exonerated and released from California’s death row. All eight were men of color.

Concerns over this kind of bias were central to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to halt executions in the state. His 2019 executive order establishing the moratorium specifically noted that death sentences have been “unevenly and unfairly applied to people of color.” The data since then hasn’t offered much reassurance: Of the 29 people sentenced to death since the moratorium began, 25 are people of color.

A governor’s moratorium, however, is not permanent — a future administration could reverse it at any time. That’s part of why advocates say a definitive court ruling is essential. Only the courts can settle whether the deep racial disparities baked into the state’s capital punishment system make it unconstitutional.

For years, defendants and their attorneys tried to get courts to seriously examine these disparities, only to be met with procedural gridlock. Troy Ashmus’ case illustrates the problem. Sentenced to death in 1986, Ashmus filed a federal habeas petition in 1998 challenging California’s death penalty system under the Eighth Amendment, backed by substantial evidence of racial bias.

What followed were more than two decades of delays. It wasn’t until 2020 — 22 years after he first raised the issue — that Ashmus finally appeared before a superior court judge. But before a ruling could be issued, he died of COVID-19, and his case was dismissed without ever being decided.

Even Ashmus’ case, frustrating as it was, represented a best-case scenario in some ways: he at least had legal representation and resources behind his appeal. That’s not the norm. Of the roughly 550 people currently on California’s death row, about 70% lack an attorney or the funding needed to pursue appeals or petitions. Even when a defendant manages to raise state constitutional claims, getting the California Supreme Court to weigh in can take more than a decade.

Part of the holdup stems from a shrinking, aging pool of attorneys qualified to handle capital appeals, compounded by chronic underfunding of the system. It can take years just to get appellate counsel appointed. Meanwhile, more than 130 fully briefed capital appeals are already sitting before the state Supreme Court, with dozens more working their way through earlier stages — a backlog that all but guarantees years of additional delay.

The financial toll has been staggering as well. Since 1978, California has spent roughly $6 billion maintaining its death penalty system, while carrying out only 13 executions. The most recent one took place on Jan. 17, 2006 — nearly two decades ago.

Given all of this, the constitutional questions raised in the pending civil rights petition demand timely answers, not another decade of delay. Every year the case remains unresolved, the evidence of racial disparity in California’s death penalty system continues to grow — and so does the human cost of waiting.

Original source: CalMatters

The post California’s Courts Must Confront Racial Bias in Death Penalty Sentencing appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

A Jan. 10 trial date was scheduled Friday for a 23- year-old probationer accused of fatally beating a Riverside senior after breaking into her home.

Sixto Jesus Garcia Pena of Palm Springs was arrested in 2021 following a Riverside Police Department investigation into the slaying of 78-year-old Denise Irene Wong.

Pena is charged with first-degree murder, as well as special- circumstance allegations of killing in the commission of a robbery, killing in the commission of a burglary and inflicting torture.

Prosecutors intend to seek capital punishment if the defendant is convicted.

During a status hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice Friday, Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni conferred with the prosecution and defense regarding future proceedings, and both sides agreed to be prepared to move forward with trial at the beginning of next year.

An intervening hearing is set for Oct. 25 to confirm everything is on track.

Pena is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center.

Pena was located in mid-January 2021 at the Imperial County Jail, where he was awaiting adjudication of an unrelated attempted vehicle theft case, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Riverside police detectives served an arrest warrant there, then transferred him to the downtown Riverside jail.

According to Riverside police Officer Ryan Railsback, Pena allegedly killed Wong in her single-story house in the 1200 block of East Manfield Street, near Masters Avenue, on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Denise was a loving mother, grandmother, sister, friend and a good and kind person,” police Chief Larry Gonzalez said after Pena’s arrest.

The victim had been a resident of the city for five decades.

Patrol officers were called to her home that evening after her loved ones requested a welfare check because she hadn’t responded to phone calls. She was found dead from injuries inflicted a few hours earlier, Railsback said.

He alleged Pena accessed the residence by breaking a rear window.

“Officers observed some items … out of place and consistent with a burglary,” the police spokesman said, adding that the victim’s car had been stolen.

Detectives confirmed the sedan was involved in a hit-and-run collision in Indio a few hours after the alleged break-in.

Indio police impounded the abandoned vehicle, and homicide investigators went to the impound yard, collecting evidence from the car that helped them identify Pena as the alleged assailant, Railsback said.

Three days later, with the help of the county’s Gang Impact Team, they confirmed Pena had been arrested in Imperial County, and arrangements were made for his transfer.

According to court records, Pena has prior convictions for child abuse, auto theft and receiving stolen property.

The post Trial Date Set For Man Accused Of Murdering Riverside Senior appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.