SAN DIEGO
A judge ruled Monday that the case of an Oceanside gang member who was 17 years old when he ambushed and fatally shot a police officer in 2006 should not be handled in Juvenile Court, rejecting a complex legal effort based on new state laws that would have seen him immediately freed from prison.
Meki Gaono, now 35, was convicted by a jury in 2009 of murdering Oceanside police Officer Dan Bessant and sentenced that same year to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Under new California laws passed since that time addressing life sentences for juvenile offenders, Gaono was entitled to a hearing to determine whether his case, which prosecutors filed directly in adult criminal court, first should have been reviewed in Juvenile Court.
But following a five-day hearing last week, Superior Court Judge Kimberlee Lagotta on Monday essentially ruled that Gaono was correctly tried and convicted as an adult for gunning down Bessant on Dec. 20, 2006. The ruling means Gaono will remain in custody, likely for many more years, though under the new laws he’s still entitled to be re-sentenced to a term that includes the possibility of parole.
“This is a just decision,” Steve Bessant, the slain officer’s father, told the Union-Tribune outside of court.
He and his wife, Jeanne, said their hearts go out to Gaono and his family, but they were relieved their son’s killer will remain in custody. Bessant was 25 years old. married and the father of a 2-month-old son when he was killed.
Gaono’s case was one of the most high-profile to date in San Diego County to showcase a big change California voters approved in November 2016 by passing Proposition 57. In part, Prop. 57 took from prosecutors the power to directly charge juveniles as adults and instead empowered judges to make that decision following hearings like the one Gaono just underwent.
District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a statement after the ruling that Gaono’s case “underscores our office’s commitment to seeking justice and safeguarding public safety amid shifting, and at times, out of balance state laws regarding juvenile defendants who have committed the most heinous and violent crimes.”
Gaono’s public defender argued last week that his client had renounced his gang membership more than 15 years ago and has already shown he is amenable to rehabilitation under juvenile jurisdiction — the key legal factor that was in question in determining his fate. But Lagotta ruled that prosecutors provided “clear and convincing evidence” against Gaono for four of the five legal factors she had to weigh, such as the seriousness of the offense.
If Lagotta had ruled that Gaono was amenable to juvenile rehabilitation and his case should have retroactively remained in Juvenile Court, he would have been released from prison, since the Juvenile Court only retains jurisdiction over an offender until age 25. Gaono instead would have been placed on juvenile probation and supervision for a maximum of two years.
“We’re happy a 35-year-old will not be treated as a juvenile,” Deputy District Attorney Ted Fiorito said after the hearing. He argued the case along with colleague Tom Manning.
Stephan said in her statement that Lagotta’s decision was “grounded by evidence and supported by law” and Gaono “will continue to be held accountable through a process that reflects the gravity of the senseless murder of a police officer and the unimaginable, ongoing grief it has caused his loved ones.”
Gaono did not react Monday in court when the judge issued her ruling. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Jimmy Rodriguez, declined to comment, citing the need to protect Gaono’s “privacy, rights and legal options going forward.”
Lagotta was required by law to base her decision on five factors: the degree of criminal sophistication exhibited by Gaono; whether he can be rehabilitated prior to the expiration of the juvenile court’s jurisdiction; his previous delinquent history; the success of previous attempts by the juvenile court to rehabilitate Gaono; and the circumstances and gravity of the offense alleged.
The only factor Lagotta ruled in Gaono’s favor was his previous delinquent history, which included just one prior offense for possession of marijuana for sale at his high school. In terms of Bessant’s killing, she indicated the sophistication exhibited by Gaono and the circumstances and gravity of the offense weighed heavily in her decision.
Gaono shot Bessant from 386 feet away with a .22-caliber rifle outfitted with a scope as Bessant helped another officer with a traffic stop at Arthur Avenue and Gold Drive, in an area of Oceanside’s North Valley neighborhood where Gaono and several other members of his gang lived.
According to testimony and arguments at Gaono’s 2009 trial and during last week’s hearing, Gaono and two fellow teenage gang members, Penifoti Taeotui and Jose Compre, drank beer and watched the nighttime traffic stop from afar for about 15 minutes before shooting at the officers. Prosecutors have said the teens opened fire to garner increased credibility with older members of the gang. Testimony indicated that, at the time, the gang was more at-odds with the police than normal because of the city’s attempted crackdown on gang activity.
The two other boys fired handguns while Gaono fired seven rounds from the rifle, according to prosecutors. The fatal round just missed Bessant’s protective vest and hit him under his left arm. After initially denying his involvement, Gaono later admitted to firing the rifle. His trial attorney argued his confession was coerced and that Gaono took the rap for other members of his gang.
During last week’s hearing, the prosecution and the defense painted different pictures of Gaono’s upbringing and his conduct in the 18 years he has spent in custody.
Manning and Fiorito argued that despite growing up in an area with a heavy gang population, Gaono had positive adult role models at home, at church and through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps that could have led him down a better path.
Rodriguez told the judge that Gaono was raised by a grandfather who was “well intentioned” but “borderline abusive.” Rodriguez said several of Gaono’s relatives were affiliated with the gang, and its culture was so entrenched in the neighborhood that “it was more unusual to not be in the gang.” He said his client renounced the gang in 2009 and has upheld a non-violence oath since 2012.
The judge said, in part, that the “existence of childhood trauma does not outweigh the criminal sophistication” exhibited by Gaono. She said the testimony of a clinical psychologist called by prosecutors was more persuasive and credible than the testimony and analysis of a clinical and forensic psychologist called by the defense. The judge also said an inexperienced probation officer assigned to the case lacked credibility.
Gaono’s co-defendant, Taeotui, was also sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and is seeking the same hearing Gaono received to determine if his case should retroactively remain in Juvenile Court. Compre, who was rearrested in 2016 after prosecutors dropped the initial charges against him, was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is not eligible for the same hearing.
Gaono is set to be re-sentenced Feb. 11 to a term that includes the possibility of parole.
