Vincent Lising-Campos

Victim: Alexandrea “Allie” Sweitzer, 20

Age at time of murder: 15

Crime date: May 18, 2017

Crime location: Richmond’s Booker T. Anderson Jr. Park, Richmond, CA

Crimes: Robbery, gang-involvement, and murder

Murder method: Gunshots

Weapon: Firearm

Convictions: No-contest plea to three counts of murder, second-degree robbery and first-degree residential robbery

Sentence: Incarceration until age 25

Allie

Summary

Lising-Campos murdered Allie when he was 15. He pleaded no contest to murder and robbery. Due to Senate Bill 1391, which banned the prosecution of 14 and 15-year-olds in adult court, Lising-Campos’s case was kept in the juvenile justice system. He will be incarcerated in juvenile detention until he is 25. Allie’s family suffers agonizing pain as a result of the killer’s light sentence.

Details

Prosecutor drops out of East Bay murder case after judge accepts teen’s plea deal under new leniency law

WALNUT CREEK — In protest against a new state criminal reform law that allows judges to give light sentences to juveniles who commit serious crimes, a Contra Costa County prosecutor has removed himself from a murder case.

Chad Mahalich, a prosecutor with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office who has been involved in statewide efforts to repeal the law,  took the unusual step Thursday after a judge accepted a plea deal that will allow a teenager to serve time in juvenile detention instead of being tried in adult court and possibly face life in prison.

Mahalich’s public position against the law has also placed him at odds with his boss, newly elected District Attorney Diana Becton, who ran on a progressive platform.

The controversy came to a head Thursday when Vincent Lising-Campos admitted in court he shot and killed Alexandrea “Allie” Sweitzer, 20, on May 18, 2017, in Booker T. Anderson Jr. Park in Richmond. He was 15 at the time.

Mahalich urged Judge Superior Court Judge Barbara Hinton to deny Lising-Campos’ no-contest plea to three counts of murder, second-degree robbery and first-degree residential robbery — all with enhancements for using a firearm and committing crimes in service of a gang. Although Hinton ruled last year that Lising-Campos was fit for adult court, she said Thursday she is bound by the legislation to accept his admission.

The law, Senate Bill 1391, repealed the district attorney’s authority to make a motion to transfer a minor from juvenile to adult court if he or she was 14 or 15 at the time of the alleged crime.

Mahalich said he believes the law is unconstitutional and had tried to appeal it, but was ordered not to by Becton.

“I’m deeply heartbroken, this wasn’t what I wanted,” Mahalich said after Thursday’s hearing. When the judge accepted Lising-Campos’ plea, which most likely will send him to juvenile detention where he could be detained until the age of 25 at most, Mahalich noted for the court’s record that he was stepping away from the case and handing it to Jean Skilling, the county’s supervising attorney for juvenile prosecution.

Authorities say Lising-Campos shot Sweitzer, a Discovery Bay resident, during a marijuana deal at a Richmond park. He and his co-defendant were accused of being in a Richmond gang called the Manor Boyz, which was the subject of a 2017 FBI investigation.

Had he been tried and convicted In adult criminal court, Lising-Campos could have faced a sentence of 97 years to life in prison.

“SB 1391 is unconstitutional … So when we get to a position where I think something is unconstitutional, and I’ve taken a duty to uphold the constitution, I can’t ethically or legally proceed and I’ve made that position clear from the start, and that’s why I abstained,” Mahalich said in an interview Thursday.

“If the (state) Supreme Court gets this and orders that it’s constitutional, I’ll go back and deal with the sentencing, but as I said, when you have challenges in other counties that have already reached the appellate level, from a brief that I submitted … and a writ has been granted and a stay has occurred, there is no legal or logical reason to not exhaust those remedies. … I’m not going to jeopardize my integrity. That’s not for sale.”

By previously granting interviews about the controversial law, Mahalich violated an office protocol Becton implemented last March, which requires media requests to the public information officer and employees to be reviewed by higher-ups in the office.

Prosecutors, including those in Santa Clara County, have challenged the constitutionality of the bill, arguing that by eliminating the ability to transfer young teenage offenders to adult court, it unlawfully subverts Proposition 57 provisions that allow for exactly that. A Kern County court ruled the bill unconstitutional earlier this month.

District Attorney Becton said in a statement emailed to this news organization she supports Superior Court Judge John W. Kennedy’s decision to transfer Lising-Campos to juvenile court after determining the state law is valid. “He made a thorough record of his analysis for this case. My heart goes out to Alexandrea Sweitzer’s family. Her death is a very tragic loss for the family and community.”

Proponents of SB 1391 point to research that shows teenagers’ brains are typically too underdeveloped for them to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions. Unlike adult court, which is more punitive, the juvenile justice system’s goal is to rehabilitate the defendant.

“SB 1391 aims to prevent greater tragedy. It was passed to treat children as children under the law and rehabilitate them in situations like this,” a statement from the Contra Costa County Public Defenders Association issued to this news organization said, noting that it “corrects the failed approach of treating children as though they are fully developed adults and provides educational and therapeutic services so our society does not lose another child, compounding tragedies such as this.”

Brandon Banks, president of the public defenders association, noted the bill was also considered an effort to reduce racial disparity in the system — young people of color have disproportionately been sent to adult court while white kids are more often managed in juvenile court.

“What this law is seeking to do is really treat children as children,” Banks said.

Lising-Campos’ co-defendant, Teari Teray Watts, 22, is also eligible for leniency under the state’s felony murder law, which precludes people from being prosecuted under certain circumstances for aiding and abetting a murder.

In an email Becton sent to prosecutors earlier this week, she noted that “the role of the District Attorney’s Office is to advocate for a fair and just system for all sides. We do not represent individual clients in any individual case, but are charged with representing the People of the State of California – which includes all people.

“My decision cannot and does not rest on the facts of one case, but on the overall weighing and balancing of factors on all sides of the system,” she continued. “The decision certainly does not excuse or condone the actions of those who find themselves charged with a crime. However, as we all work through the evolution of our criminal justice system we must collectively continue to find the balance between public safety, accountability, fundamental fairness under the law, and the rights of victims.”

Sweitzer’s family and friends who attended the hearing expressed sadness and frustration with her killer’s plea deal, which came after the family staged multiple protests this week and urged Becton to allow prosecutors to file an appeal.

Several members spoke out in court during the hearing, saying that Lising-Campos’ plea deal made them feel like they were being victimized all over again.

“There is no justice here,” Teylar Sweitzer, Allie’s sister, said after the hearing. “We are just one case, but Allie mattered. … It’s devastating. By (District Attorney) Becton’s allowance, he will be out by age 25.”

Teen gets seven years in juvenile detention for killing Discovery Bay woman

WALNUT CREEK — After hearing almost two hours of emotional testimony from the family of a murdered woman, a judge ordered her killer to spend seven years in juvenile detention instead of life in adult prison because he was a young teenager when he killed her.

Vincent Lising-Campos, now 17, will serve the lighter sentence because of a new, controversial state law, a punishment that left the family of slain Alexandrea “Allie” Sweitzer in agony after Thursday’s sentencing.

“I literally feel a hole in the middle of me at every moment,” said Sweitzer’s mother, Melanie Schwartz.

Lising-Campos pleaded guilty last month to fatally shooting Sweitzer on May 18, 2017 in Richmond’s Booker T. Anderson Jr. Park. The plea was entered during a tense hearing that saw prosecutor Chad Mahalich remove himself from the case in protest against the law and District Attorney Diana Becton’s edict preventing him from trying to appeal it.

The law, enacted through Senate Bill 1391, removed district attorneys’ authority to make a motion for the transfer of a minor from juvenile to adult court if he or she was 14 or 15 at the time of the alleged crime. Lising-Campos was 15 when he shot Sweitzer in 2017.

Mahalich said last month he believes the law is unconstitutional and worked to appeal it, but Becton ordered him not to.

Campos will be transferred from the county to the state Division of Juvenile Justice. Had he been tried and convicted in adult criminal court, Lising-Campos could have faced a sentence of 97 years to life in prison. Authorities say he shot Sweitzer, a Discovery Bay resident, during a marijuana deal in the Richmond park. He and his co-defendant were accused of belonging to a Richmond gang called the Manor Boyz, which was the subject of a 2017 FBI investigation.

“I agree that he is still a danger,” Judge Hinton said during the hearing, adding she was concerned about his “visible lack of remorse.” But, she added, she could only issue the maximum sentence under juvenile court rules, which means he will be released at age 25.

Campos will be transferred from the county to the state Division of Juvenile Justice. Had he been tried and convicted in adult criminal court, Lising-Campos could have faced a sentence of 97 years to life in prison. Authorities say he shot Sweitzer, a Discovery Bay resident, during a marijuana deal in the Richmond park. He and his co-defendant were accused of belonging to a Richmond gang called the Manor Boyz, which was the subject of a 2017 FBI investigation.

“I agree that he is still a danger,” Judge Hinton said during the hearing, adding she was concerned about his “visible lack of remorse.” But, she added, she could only issue the maximum sentence under juvenile court rules, which means he will be released at age 25.

Mahalich had urged Hinton during last month’s hearing to deny Lising-Campos’ no-contest plea to three counts of murder, second-degree robbery and first-degree residential robbery. Hinton had ruled last year before SB 1391 kicked in that Lising-Campos was fit for adult court.

K.C. Donovan, a deputy public defender representing Lising-Campos, said his client grew up in “abject poverty” and that a near-death experience — he was shot in the chest during a random drive-by shooting when he was 13 — partly drove him to seek protection and a sense of belonging with neighborhood gang members, leading to a life of crime.

“I do believe that children can make a terrible mistake and still find redemption,” Donovan said, noting that services offered in juvenile detention would give Lising-Campos a better chance to reform himself than a life in adult prison could.

Sending a child to adult prison — especially with a life sentence — only compounds the tragedy in what is already a tremendous loss, Donovan said.

Proponents of SB 1391 argue that research shows teenagers’ brains are typically too underdeveloped to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions.

In addition, they note, the bill reflects an effort to reduce racial disparity in the criminal justice system, since young people of color have disproportionately been sent to adult court and white youths to juvenile court. Data from the state shows that of the teens ages 14 and 15 who were considered for adult court in transfer hearings between 2007 and 2016, black and Latino teenagers were tried as adults significantly more often than white teenagers.

“Children should be held accountable, but it has to be age appropriate or it will only cause more trauma and mental harm,” said Michael Mendoza, policy director for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. Mendoza served time in adult prison for being involved in a shooting when he was a teenager.

“When you are such a young kid and sent to (an adult) prison system with a life sentence that says you’re not going to pretty much ever go home, that entire mentality and influence on a kid says, why should I rehabilitate myself?’ ” he said.

Sweitzer’s family members — including sisters, cousins, her aunt, stepfather and mother — all shared memories of Allie during the hearing, recounting her great hugs, her beaming smile and her adventurous spirit.

Schwartz urged Lising-Campos to think of her family every time he hits a milestone or celebrates a life event that Allie Sweitzer can no longer experience — road trips, family meals, even holding hands.

“The day Allie was born, I fell in love with her hands,” she said during the hearing, describing her daughter’s then-infant fingers squeezing her own.

The last time she held her daughter’s hand was much different, she told Lising-Campos.

“I held my daughter’s cold stiff hand, which this time did not squeeze back.”