OVERCRIMINALIZED
AND
OVERPUNISHED:
Jesus Aguirre Jr.
A Case Study On The
School to Prison Pipeline in Orange County
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Family Migration
Jesus Aguirre Jr. was born on the morning of May 21, 1993 in Los Angeles
County to Silvia Giron and Jesus Aguirre Sr. His family resided in Los Angeles
County until July 1, 2005 when the Aguirre family moved to Buena Park seeking a
better neighborhood for their 12 year old child to grow up in. According to his
parents, Jesus Jr. exhibited behavioral problems early in childhood. By the time Jesus
Jr. was 10 years old, the family had noticed something unusual about their child’s
behavior. He was unable to sit through a movie and rarely focused during simple
family conversations.
Push-Out of Jr. High for Willful Defiance
Once in Buena Park, Orange County, Jesus Jr. was immediately enrolled at
Buena Park Jr. High where he was constantly disciplined for behavioral issues due to
being talkative and disruptive in class, resulting in several suspensions for Willful
Defiance. Between October 2005 and October 2006, Jesus Jr. received 32 recorded
disciplinary responses of which 22 were for Willful Defiance. School records indicate
that his in-house and out-of-school suspensions totaled 38 days in one school year.
This means that one fifth of his educational days were spent being suspended.
Records also show that he was once suspended 14 days in-house for Willful Defiance.
It should be noted that Willful Defiance can be anything from chewing bubblegum to
talking back to a teacher. The family asked the school for a learning disability
evaluation but the school principal and staff were unresponsive. Instead, in the fall of
2006, on 11/15/2006, he was involuntarily transferred to Buena Park ACCESS County
School due to the school’s zero-tolerance policy, which didn’t take into account the
root cause of his behavioral problems. The family begged the principal not to transfer
their 12 year old child to ACCESS and for the school to evaluate him for ADHD. The
Principal denied the family help and transferred the young man to ACCESS.
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Surviving ACCESS
Jesus Jr. was only 12 years old the first time he was sent to ACCESS. There,
the Orange County Department of Education placed him in a facility with youth that
were up to 18 years old. Many of the students that end up in ACCESS are considered
or labeled documented gang members or re-entry youth. Many parents have argued
that ACCESS does not provide adequate prevention or intervention support for the
students that attend those schools. Being thrown into such an environment with a
learning disability was difficult for Jesus Jr. He quickly did what most students are
forced to do to survive ACCESS, he began to hang out with the ACCESS students
from his neighborhood. Many of those students happened to be from East Side
Buena Park Gang (ESBP). The hostile school climate at ACCESS schools forces most
students to adopt deviant behavior in order to “fit in” as a coping mechanism from
knowing that violence can easily come to those that do not.
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From ACCESS to S.T.E.P. Act
(Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act)
Jesus Jr. failed to attend school several times due to an expressed fear of
attending a school so potentially violent. The friendships that Jesus Jr. began, as a
result of the hostile school climate, with students who were from ESBP didn’t end
with the school bell. He began hanging out with his friends after school like any other
normal kid his age. This led him to be profiled by Buena Park Gang Unit while
walking home from school several times. The records show that he quickly acquired
several STEP Act cards/notices. According to court records, between 2008 and 2010,
Jesus Jr. had 26 contacts with police; 14 of those contacts were contacts by Buena
Park Gang Unit Officer James Woo. Officer James Woo issued Jesus Jr. 14 STEP
notices in less than 2 years. In a time period of 2 years, Jesus Jr. was stopped by
police over an average of once a month. Jesus Jr. didn’t understand what the pieces of
paper were, but the Gang Unit Officers often forced him to sign them under the
threat of violence or arrest. Often times, Gang Unit Officers would call him
nicknames he didn’t even have. This is also evident on the STEP Act paper trail. As
a result of the dynamics at Buena Park ACCESS School (and other county schools
akin to it) and the frequent contact with Buena Park Gang Unit, Jesus was at a high
risk of ending up on CalGang. Local law enforcement agencies often use STEP
notices as a tool to justify gang injunctions in court.
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Undiagnosed and Underserved
By 2008, Jesus Jr. (age 15) had been transferred back and forth from ACCESS
to traditional schools several times as a result of his learning disability. He attended
two different high schools. He was constantly disciplined for lack of focus in class and
disruption. The family would often plead with school staff for a learning disability
evaluation and for help, but like hundreds of families in the same situation, their
plights went not only unanswered but blatantly and irresponsibly ignored by the
Buena Park School District. The family reached out and wrote formal letters to the
Orange County Superintendent of Schools, the Assistant Superintendent of
Alternative Educational and to the Chief of Special Education Services at that time;
all to no avail. Between 7th grade and 10th grade, Jesus Jr. was transferred a total of 18
times.
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Brown with ADHD in OC: Overcriminalized and Overpunished
The Aguirre family was forced to seek help elsewhere. A community based
organization referred the Aguirre family to the ADD Treatment Center in Torrance,
California. There, Jesus Jr. was professionally evaluated. Jesus Jr. was 16 years old in
2009 when he was formally diagnosed with ADHD. The clinical report of the
evaluation states the following:
The list below summarizes what the practical significance of that deficit
is considered to be:

Ability to detect and respond to significant change under
conditions requiring vigilance. Fundamental everyday skills e.g.
machine operations.

Visual discriminative judgement and response.

Language skill; correlates with premorbid intelligence.

Ability to plan, strategize and implement complex tasks involving
visuospatial information.

Hyperactivity

Hyper/Impulsive
It had taken 4 years for the family to finally receive help for their son, a proper
evaluation and a professional diagnosis, giving the family the opportunity to treat the
root cause of their son’s behavioral and learning problems. However, by 2009, it was
too late. Petty incidents over the years had accumulated into a substantial police file
by the Buena Park Gang Unit.
Systematic Over-criminalization
Due to the STEP Act notices he was forced to sign since the age of 13, Jesus Jr.
became a primary target of the Buena Park Gang Unit, which constantly harassed
him and issued him numerous petty tickets. Below are the list of tickets he received
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by date since his first run in with the law. During this time period, Jesus Jr. claims to
have been constantly harassed by Buena Park Gang Unit Officer James Woo.

4/23/08 – Chalking/Graffiti

7/18/08 – Hitching a ride on handle bars of a bicycle

5/11/08 – Possession/purchase of tobacco under age of 18

11/20/08 – Bicycle operated at night without headlights

1/08/09 – Possession/ purchase of tobacco under age of 18

3/7/09 - Possession/ purchase of tobacco under age of 18

3/30/09 – Possession of tobacco products

5/08/09 – Riding bicycle without approved helmet

5/14/09 – Minor with possession of lighter

6/15/09 – No bicycle helmet

8/01/09 – Possession of tobacco products
Over-punished for Chalking
It was April 23, 2008, Jesus Jr. was 14 years old, when he was detained along
with a friend who was on probation. The friend had written with CHALK, “ESB,” on
public property and on the wall of a private business. Jesus Jr. didn’t want his friend
to go to jail on a violation of probation (VOP) and took the blame for the
CHALKING. He received two citations: P.C. 594(a)(1) Graffiti and P.C. 594.2(a)
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Possession of Graffiti Tools. It was also documented as a gang related incident and
placed on his Gang Unit file. The citation states that there was no property damage
nor property loss. As a result of this incident however, he was placed on informal
probation. Lisa Angell became his probation officer under the supervision of Isabel
Gutierrez. The police file below shows that the incident did not incur any property
loss or property damage.
Diversion Program Fails Jesus Jr.
Jesus Jr. was referred by the Orange County Probation Department to
Shortstop, a diversion program directed at that time by Robert Diaz of the Orange
County Bar Foundation. Even though Jesus Jr. accomplished most of the tasks/duties
assigned and paid all of his fees, he was kicked out of the program by Mr. Diaz due
to failure of turning in an essay; a behavior consistent with his learning disability. The
family begged Mr. Diaz to give Jesus Jr. a second chance, but Mr. Diaz refused. This
placed Jesus Jr.’s fate back in the hands of Probation Officer Angell.
Humiliated by Probation Officer Angell
The family asked Probation Officer Angell for a family meeting. In the
meeting, PO Angell stated that she had to refer the case to the Juvenile Court Judge.
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According to the family, she humiliated them and was very disrespectful. The Aguirre
family asked for a second chance, and again, the second chance was denied.
Failure to be Notified by Court
Ms. Angell told the family that a letter would come in the mail with the date in
which to appear in court. The Aguirre family waited for the court letter to arrive in
the mail but it never came. The family attempted to contact PO Angell multiple times
but to no avail. The family never received a letter for their court appointment and PO
Angell did not answer any of the family’s calls. A significant percentage of youth in
juvenile hall end up in juvenile hall simply because they were not notified or aware of
their court date.
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Father Calls the Police for Help
Jesus Jr.’s father had always taken the advice of law enforcement. The
probation officer had instructed Mr. Aguirre to call the police on his son if necessary
and in many behavior related incidents due to his condition, Mr. Aguirre did just that.
Every single time his father called the police for help was used against Jesus Jr. in
court.
Missed Opportunity for Restorative Justice
On April 3, 2009, a friend of Jesus Jr. took, without permission, the vehicle of
his neighbor and drove around to pick up several of his friends. Jesus Jr. was picked
up along with 4-5 other friends. The youth drove around until they were pulled over
by the police, who clearly saw a really young man driving other really young kids. The
owner of the vehicle refused to press charges or even report the car stolen due to the
fact that he knew the youth and their families. Nonetheless, the police charged Jesus
Jr. with vehicle theft (P.C. 10851(a)). At that point, he was released to his parents and
was not notified of any outstanding warrants.
Chalking Turns Into Arrest Due to a Warrant
On May 18, 2009, less than a month after the joy ride incident, the police came
looking for Jesus Jr. at his home. Jesus Jr. was not home at that time. Mr. Aguirre
asked the Officers what his son had done, but no answers were given to him even
though his son was a minor. All he was told was to take his son to the police station
when he returned home. Worried and concerned, Mr. Aguirre and his wife waited for
their son to return. When Jesus Jr. returned, his mom and dad drove him to the
station.
Once at the station, police arrested Jesus Jr. and notified Mr. Aguirre that he
had an outstanding warrant due to failure to appear in court on March 19, 2009 for
incompletion of his informal probation from the CHALKING incident in 2008. Jesus
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Jr. spent 9 days in juvenile hall and was released. As a result, he was assigned formal
probation under Probation Officer Tracy Vega and released on May 27, 2009 with 1
year of formal probation. A year after the chalking incident, he ended up in jail for
not having received a notice to appear in court, in the mail. As stated before, a
significant number of youth end up in juvenile hall as a result of the “notice to
appear” letter not being in the appropriate language, for not being aware or forgetting
the date in which to appear and, sometimes, not even being notified to appear.
Jesus Jr. Institutionalized at BADD
Fearing and desperate that they were losing their son to the system, the
Aguirre family was approved by the Juvenile Judge to institutionalize Jesus Jr. at Born
Again and Delivered Disciples; a 24/7 faith based institution (BADD). Jesus Jr. was
institutionalized at BADD on August 2, 2009 for 6 months. He returned home on
January 30, 2010.
Since his days at the ACCESS county school in 2008, Jesus Jr. had been
targeted by Buena Park Gang Unit Officers. As stated earlier, Jesus Jr. had several
run-ins with Buena Park Gang Unit Officer, James Woo. By 2009, on multiple
occasions, Buena Park Gang Unit Officers had aggressively attempted to incriminate
Jesus Jr. in incidents he wasn’t even involved in.
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False Charges and False Police Reports
On August 24, 2009, while Jesus Jr. was institutionalized at BADD, Buena Park
Police Officer J. Shaddow, Unit K24, attempted to press false charges against Jesus Jr.
ranging from armed robbery to other violent felonies.
Four young men were robbed and assaulted with a crow bar by East Side
Buena Park members. At the beginning of the police report, the officers named Jesus
Jr. as a suspect due to a description provided by one of the four victims. From then
on, the police report reads as if Jesus Jr. had been on the scene of the crimes
committed. This was impossible, since Jesus was in a 24/7 in-house facility at the
time of the incident. During this time period even OCDE wrote a letter to the DA to
prosecute Jesus Jr. and his parents for “missing school.” In Santa Ana, not too long
ago, parents were arrested due to their children’s truancy. Below is the police report
by Buena Park Police Officer J. Shaddow which shows how easily police reports can
turn into false police reports and lead to false charges resulting in unjust convictions.
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This police report was later brought up in court and included in the “criminal”
file of Jesus Jr. even though he was never charged with the crimes and even though
he was institutionalized 24/7 at BADD facilities at that time until January of 2010.
Shooting Incident 2010
The incident occurred at around 5:33 PM on Saturday, March 13, 2010. Jesus
Aguirre had just turned 16 years old.
A man was involved in several arguments with his ex-girlfriend over the years.
In reaction to the tensions, the brother of the woman became involved in arguments
with her ex-boyfriend. This lead to an argument between both men who at one point
had been best friends. The ex-boyfriend called his friends, including Jesus Jr. and
went to his ex-girlfriend’s house, where the ex-boyfriend shot his ex-girlfriend’s
brother with two rounds of birdshot with a shotgun.
Fortunately for the woman’s brother, he was shot from far away and sustained
non-lethal injuries. The victim sustained, “bruising and minor body injuries to his
torso and thigh,” from the birdshot as stated in the medical report that was included
in the police report. The victim happened to also be a “documented” gang member.
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The police report and the medical report reads, “…the wounds were all superficial
and none were life-threatening.”
Police arrived after the incident took place. By the time they arrived, the man
who had shot his ex-girlfriend’s brother and ex-best friend, along with his friends and
Jesus Jr., had fled. During the police investigation, the ex-girlfriend attempted to
protect her ex-boyfriend by being ambiguous about some of the questions the police
asked. She also at one point mentioned that she wasn’t sure who had shot at her
brother because there had “possibly” been another young man at the scene. The
mother of the ex-girlfriend and the victim was also questioned. During the mother’s
questioning by police, she mentioned that her daughter had told her that another
young man might have been present at the moment of the incident other than the exboyfriend.
According to the police report on file, she mentioned that she saw up to 15-20
different people run and two young men wearing baseball caps who were the closest
to where her son was, whom laid unconscious after being shot. She mentioned that
she knew the young man that shot her son, stating that they used to be friends and
could identify him from a picture she used to have but could not find.
The mother testified in court, “Mi hija dijo que posiblemente avia otro chico
con el muchacho que le disparo a mi hijo.” A neighbor was also questioned. In the
police report, the neighbor stated that he had seen the shooter who was wearing
shorts and had a tattoo on one of his legs. Jesus Jr. has no tattoo on any of his legs.
The police officer conducting the investigation at the scene of the crime ran a “sixpack photo lineup” with the picture of Jesus Jr. on it. Neither the mother nor her
daughter identified Jesus Jr. as the shooter.
In the police report, the police wrote down that by the mother saying, “chico,”
that she meant Jesus Aguirre Jr. who was known by various nicknames to the Buena
Park Gang Unit (BPGU). Most of these nicknames were imposed by the BPGU on
Jesus Jr. during police contacts resulting in numerous S.T.E.P. notices. One of the
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nicknames he was known by to BPGU was “Chico.” This intentional jump in logic by
BPGU, turned Jesus Jr. from a suspect into a wanted criminal.
In court, the ex-girlfriend admitted she had been ambiguous and that she in
fact had not physically witnessed the shooting although being very close to the
incident. The police were unaware of the extent of the relationship between shooter
and victim during the initial investigation. What they knew, was that the mother
stated that the shooter and her son used to be friends. The victim, the ex-girlfriend,
their mother and the neighbor testified that Jesus Jr. was not the shooter:
Buena Park Police from the very beginning, handled the incident as a gang
related case. When contrary information arose, they chose to ignore it. Instead of
seeking justice for the victim, all of the law enforcement agencies involved chose to
focus on getting a conviction; even if that meant that the conviction was not a
conviction for the shooter. Jesus Jr. was apprehended the following night at a party.
Present was Buena Park Officer James Woo and Luis Garcia. He was arrested on
three violations of probation (POV’s) and as a suspect to the incident the day before.
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The Arrest
On March 14, 2010 Jesus Jr. was at a party when the party was raided by
Buena Park Police Officers and Buena Park Gang Unit. Jesus Jr. was detained by
several officers including Officer Luis Garcia and James Woo. Officer Garcia drew his
weapon and pointed it to the head of Jesus Jr. Officers Luis Garcia and James Woo,
made death threats to Jesus Jr. and insinuated he would pay for the incident that
happened the day before.
The charges against Jesus Jr. were not filed by the DAs due to a lack of
incriminating evidence. He was then charged and held on several violations of formal
probation, for violating curfew and for being around documented gang members.
They also added a violation of probation for not attending school every day, at a time
when Jesus Jr. was attending alternative education once a week. This violation of
probation charge was later dismissed.
Violation of Massiah Rule and the 6th Amendment
Officer James Woo knew Jesus Jr. was going to be released from juvenile hall
and so he took matters into his own hands. James Woo had apprehended another
young man, a “friend” of Jesus Jr., at the party on violations of probation. Officer
James Woo visited that young man in juvenile hall. To this day, it is unclear what
transpired between them, however, soon after, Jesus Jr. and the other young man
were placed on the same cell and were immediately audio recorded for four hours by
Deputy Juvenile Correctional Officer II (DJCO II) Indalesia Bravo and Brian Rollon
with the signed approval of Juvenile Hall Director Keith Gotts.
They turned the audio file over to Officer James Woo who wrote a synopsis for
court and then forwarded it to Deputy DA Brian. This covert and surreptitious audio
recording without the family’s private attorney being notified was in violation of
Massiah Rule and in violation of the 6th Amendment. Throughout the conversation it
appears that the young man was baiting Jesus Jr. to make comments and statements
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that would make him out to be a “remorseless criminal” capable of murder, the way
that Buena Park Police Officers and later Orange County Juvenile Probation Officers
would make him out to be. Buena Park Officer Woo highlighted the parts of the
conversations that could be used against Jesus Jr. and ignored a holistic and
contextual analysis of the whole recording, even parts of the audio that favored Jesus
Jr. The DA focused on prosecuting Jesus Jr. even though the audio was clear that
several other youth had been at the scene and that both minors recorded that night
stated multiple times that neither of them had been the shooter. Although both young
men admitted to have been at the scene of the crime during the shooting incident,
only Jesus Jr. was charged with all of the felony counts and gang enhancements.
This audio recording was enough for the DA to utilize in court against Jesus Jr.
The charges were immediately filed. Jesus Jr. was charged with 6 felony counts and
two gang enhancements. Below is evidence of police stating they were conducting
“covert” taping of minors. Officer Woo even admits the recording to be surreptitious.
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DA Admits to Not Doing His Job
Inaccurate Probation Sentencing Report and Police Reports
The Probation Sentencing Report (PSR) never states that Jesus Jr. had never
committed a violent crime prior to the shooting incident. The PSR even used the fact
that he had a loving home against him by making the case that there were no negative
environmental or family factors to take into account and that therefore no reduction
of sentence was recommended. This report was written by Probation Officer Jessica
Carlson and was mostly based on the police reports that Buena Park Police Officers
had written which included false charges and false police reports.
Jesus Jr. was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 year plus 10 years to be served
consecutively at the age of 16. A 16 year old, boy of color with a learning disability
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was robbed of his life that day by many people that had a responsibility to act in the
best interest of him. The Probation Sentencing Report reads as if Jesus Jr. had been
the shooter even though ample evidence existed to the contrary. His learning
disability was also blatantly ignored. Below are excerpts from his Probation
Sentencing Report.
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Evidence from Private Detective Ignored by OCDA
In January of 2011, while the trial was on-going, the Aguirre family hired,
Thomas Gleim Investigations, a private detective firm and investigator out of Costa
Mesa in order to conduct a separate and independent investigation of the shooting
incident.
The investigators contacted the victim of the shooting along with both of his
parent and all three agreed to be interviewed by the private detectives. The private
investigation produced the following findings from the interviews:
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#BringJesusHome
We seek to shed light on the school to prison pipeline in Orange County and
on the over-criminalization and over-punishment of youth of color in Orange County.
The Court of Appeals declared the sentencing unconstitutional. Jesus Jr. was
resentenced at the Santa Ana Superior Court. He was re-sentenced to 17 years. As a
result of the failure of the Buena Park Police Department to apprehend the actual
shooter, the victim was shot and killed a year after the first shooting. Jesus Jr. was
sent to Theo Lacy as a minor, he has been at several State Prisons including Pelican
Bay State Prison and he is currently being transferred to High Desert State Prison
because the educational and juvenile justice systems didn’t know how to help him and
instead criminalized him and over-punished him every step of the way. He turned 22
this year.
Governor Brown, we ask that you pardon Jesus Jr. so he can be home for Christmas
this year (2015).
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