Meki Gaono, who fatally ambushed Officer Dan Bessant, sought to retroactively be moved to Juvenile Court jurisdiction
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.to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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, Proposition 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.
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.
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.” 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.
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.
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