A Vacaville man who in 2010, when he was 14, raped, repeatedly stabbed and sodomized a 13-year-old girl and repeatedly stabbed her 1-year-old brother had a brief hearing Tuesday in a juvenile law courtroom.
Alexander Cervantes, now 22, could be released from custody within the next three years.
Cervantes was not at the hearing. He is locked up at the Salinas Valley State Prison where he has been serving a 68-years-to-life sentence for what he did after breaking into the children’s Vacaville home late at night. He stabbed the girl 42 times. Her brother was stabbed 13 times.
Cervantes was prosecuted as an adult. A jury found him guilty in 2012 of 15 felony charges that included premeditated attempted murder, aggravated mayhem, torture, assault, rape and several felony sexual assault offenses.
Since then state laws have changed about how juvenile offenders face charges in the adult criminal courts. The Court of Appeal in 2017 overturned eight of Cervantes’ felony convictions, returning the case back to Solano County.
The lawyer for Cervantes, Peter Obstler, wants his client to remain in the juvenile court system, especially in light of the passage of a new state law taking effect in January that bars 14- and 15-year-old offenders from being prosecuted as adults.
Regardless of whether the case stays in juvenile court or is transferred, at some point prosecutors will decide if they will seek a retrial for Cervantes on the overturned criminal charges.
Also at issue is whatever prison sentence may be imposed on Cervantes since higher courts have deemed lifelong sentences for youthful offenders at times amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and as such are unconstitutional. At most, if Cervantes’ case is moved back to the adult criminal court, the maximum punishment he could receive is a 50-year prison sentence.
Cervantes’ minimum eligible parole date previously was Sept. 23, 2077, when he would have been 80 years old.
