The District Attorney’s Office dismissed adult charges against a
male teenager accused of the murder at the Hollister Community
Center and will try him as a juvenile.
The District Attorney’s Office dismissed adult charges against a male teenager accused of the murder at the Hollister Community Center and will try him as a juvenile.
During a hearing in Superior Court Tuesday, the DA’s office entered a motion dismissing the murder charge in an adult proceeding that could have sent Joseph Azevedo to prison if convicted, but instead would at worst send him to the California Youth Authority, the juvenile version of prison.
Azevedo, 18, is accused of murdering Jose Luis Sanchez, 38, on Oct. 20, 2001 when he was 17.
“They will be filing in juvenile court a charge of accessory after the fact,” Azevedo’s defense attorney Chester Phillips of Salinas said.
Phillips said the case is expected to be heard in juvenile court in two weeks “to see if we can resolve this.”
Because Azevedo was a minor at the time he allegedly shot Sanchez to death outside a quincenera party, it made it possible for him to be tried as a juvenile.
District Attorney John Sarsfield said he could not explain why his office made the decision to try the case in juvenile court.
“Now that this case is in juvenile court, we can’t talk about it,” Sarsfield said.
Unlike adult cases, which are tried in public, juvenile cases are often closed to the public to protect the privacy of the youths involved because juvenile courts work on the premise that youths can be reformed and their actions as a youth should not be held against them as an adult.
Being tried as a juvenile, Azevedo could be sentenced to the California Youth Authority until he turns 25.
State law does not allow the CYA to hold people older than 25.
The difference between Azevedo being tried as a juvenile as opposed as an adult is about 63 years of incarceration.
If Azevedo had been convicted as an adult, he could have been sentenced to a maximum of about 70 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole, according to the state penal code.
Azevedo’s arrest in September, came in part as the result of a domestic dispute, Gonzales Police Chief Ray Green said.
Gonzales police were called to a reported domestic disturbance and when they arrived, the woman who had called for help told police her husband had already left with two young men and that her husband was carrying a rifle, police said.
A short time later, police spotted the three men and when an officer tried to question them about the incident, Azevedo reportedly fled on foot.
“One of the kids hopped a fence, (and) a few sound walls running through back yards,” Green said.
At first, Gonzales police did not know Azevedo was wanted for murder, but Azevedo lied to police in hopes of getting out of police custody.
“It appears he gave (police) the name of another youth from Hollister who was on probation at the time,” Hollister Police Chief Bill Pierpoint said in a previous interview.
Until he was arrested, Azevedo, reportedly eluded local law enforcement for more than 10 months.
Repeated attempts to find him ended up with Azevedo allegedly slipping out of a home or residence just minutes before investigators were to close in on his location.
Investigators said that in the months police were searching for him, Azevedo never strayed far from Hollister and avoided police with the help of friends and family.
Gonzales police called the San Benito County Probation Department and faxed a picture of Azevedo to confirm who they had in custody.
Police recognized the picture and immediately sent detectives for Azevedo, where he is currently being held in San Benito County Jail.
