A 17-year-old California gang member charged as a juvenile for a double murder carried out five years ago is now charged in connection with another murder.
Shanice Dyer, a member of the East Coast Crips, was convicted of murdering Alfredo Carrera and his friend, José Flores Velázquez in Los Angeles because they were standing in the gang’s territory, Fox 11 reported.
Dyer was charged with premeditated murder by then-Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and was set to be tried as an adult. But when George Gascón – who has taken heat and faced legal battles for lenient policies – took over as district attorney, he had Dyer charged as a juvenile.
She was in custody for less than four years before being released despite her conviction for two murders.
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Now, Dyer is accused of aiding and abetting in the murder of 21-year-old Joshua Streeter.
“Our heart breaks for the victim and his family. This is an unimaginable tragedy. However, it is very unlikely that Ms. Dyer would have been transferred under any administration,” a spokesperson for Gascón’s office told Fox 11. “Under the law, there are five factors that a juvenile court would have considered and weighed in determining if Ms. Dyer were amenable to remain in the juvenile system.”
“Of those five factors, only one factor, the circumstances and gravity of the offense, weighed in favor of transfer to adult court,” the spokesperson said. All the other factors weighed in favor of Ms. Dyer remaining in the juvenile system. Given this, it is highly unlikely that Ms. Dyer would have been transferred to the adult system even if the court had held a transfer hearing.
The other four factors, according to the spokesperson, are that Dyer was under the influence of adult men and acted at their direction, which indicates that she did not exhibit a high degree of criminal sophistication; that she lacked any serious criminal history at the time; the amount of time and opportunity that remained at that time to rehabilitate her in the juvenile system and the absence of any previous opportunities to rehabilitate her in the juvenile system.
Gascon, who enjoyed support from liberal billionaire George Soros when he ran for office in 2020, has faced a number of his own legal battles since taking office.
In 2021, a judge blocked Gason’s policy aiming to block prosecutors from seeking longer sentences for repeat offenders under the state’s Three Strikes Law, which states that defendants convicted of any new felony after being convicted of previous felonies be sentenced “for twice the term otherwise provided for the crime,” or a minimum 25 years if they have two or more prior “strikes,” according to the county. In 2022, he was sued by a number of his own prosecutors who accused him of pushing lenient sentencing guidelines that allegedly violated the law.
The district attorney’s Juvenile Alternative Charging Evaluation Committee (JACE) was formed in March 2022. Since then, 23 transfer requests have been approved for transfer motions to adult court by JACE, according to Fox 11.
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The approved cases include five transfer motions that have gone to hearings before the juvenile court, four that were denied by the court, one that was granted by the court and one that is still in progress.
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
