WOODLAND — Jesus Campos belongs in adult court for his alleged role in the presumed deaths of two Yolo County teenagers, ruled a Yolo Superior Court judge who called the 19-year-old an “active and willing participant” in the 2016 crimes.
“Jesus, the court finds, is intelligent. He knows the consequences of his behavior,” said Judge Tom Dyer, who in a nearly 45-minute ruling read from the bench Wednesday detailed the various factors he said makes Campos unsuitable for juvenile court.
Most overwhelming, Dyer noted, were the circumstances and gravity of the offense, in which teens Enrique Rios and Elijah Moore were abducted and killed to avenge a $300 marijuana robbery of Campos’ friend David Froste.
“The evidence shows Jesus was a willing participant with a group he likes to be part of,” Dyer said, referring to Froste, his brother Jonathan Froste and their friend Chandale Shannon Jr. — “the squad,” as they called themselves.
Both Froste brothers have been convicted so far — David Froste at trial, Jonathan Froste in a plea deal in which he agreed to testify against the others in exchange for a lesser sentence.
Shannon, whose attorney is challenging his mental competency to stand trial, was due to undergo a competency hearing Wednesday afternoon, but that matter was postponed to July 19.
Campos will make his first adult-court appearance at 1:30 p.m. Thursday for arraignment on murder, kidnapping and other charges.
According to testimony, Campos was present for both slayings and took an active role in Moore’s bludgeoning, then bragged about them to friends afterward and tried to mislead police who were investigating the teens’ disappearances.
“These are not the actions of a mere child puppet,” Dyer said, challenging defense attorney Jeff Raven’s contention that Campos was “young and dumb,” acting under duress from the older, physically imposing and more violent David Froste.
Dyer also heavily weighed Campos’ potential for rehabilitation within the next five years — the amount of time he would remain in juvenile jurisdiction if convicted as a minor — despite his decade-long history of flouting extensive prior efforts to get him on the right track.
“This is a person who is beyond the rehabilitative services of the juvenile court,” Dyer said, citing Campos’ lack of remorse for the killings in a recorded jailhouse conversation with a police informant who asked if he regretted his actions.
“Part of me does, but part of me don’t,” Campos said in the recording. “We did what had to be done.”
“Five years is not enough to rehabilitate a person who displays such coldness,” Dyer said, calling Campos’ potential for reform “minuscule at best.”
Dyer’s ruling comes nearly a month after the conclusion of testimony in Campos’ six-day transfer hearing, a proceeding conducted in juvenile court to determine whether a minor should be tried as an adult.
Though now an adult, Campos was 17 at the time of the alleged crimes, which landed his case in juvenile court while prosecutors petitioned to elevate it to adult jurisdiction, which has stricter sentencing laws. A murder conviction in adult court could bring a life sentence.
Factors considered in juvenile transfer hearings include the gravity of the alleged crime, the defendant’s criminal sophistication, prior delinquent acts, prior rehabilitative efforts and potential for rehabilitation while in the juvenile justice system.
Dyer said he also considered several mitigating factors, such as Campos’ struggles with depression and anxiety, as well as his home life marked by an absent father and uninvolved mother, but found the teen ultimately was taught to know right from wrong.
Relatives and family friends of both teens filled several rows of seats in the courtroom to hear Dyer’s ruling, which elicited tears of relief from Lola Rios Gutierrez, Enrique’s mother.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” Gutierrez said, expressing gratitude to the case’s prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Kyle Hasapes. “Kyle has been there since the beginning, and he’s put in 110 percent.”
Hasapes, meanwhile, said Dyer “made the right decision, which I think the conduct deserved. We plan on going full force (after Campos and Shannon) just like we did with David, because they’re just as guilty.”
Raven, Campos’ lawyer, called Dyer’s ruling a “thoughtful and well-reasoned decision,” which he pointed out drew no conclusions regarding Campos’ guilt or innocence, neither of them being at issue in the transfer hearing.
“I look forward to and welcome the opportunity to establish Mr. Campos’ innocence at a future jury trial,” Raven said.
Authorities allege Campos played a significant role in the killings, the first of which occurred on the night of Oct. 17, 2016, when Campos, Shannon and David Froste were robbed by Moore of a jar containing three ounces of marijuana in a Woodland parking lot.
Unable to find Moore afterward, Froste, Shannon and Campos reportedly invited Moore’s friend Rios, 16, out “to party” and drove him to rural Knights Landing. As Campos watched from the car, Froste fatally shot Rios after he refused to lure Moore to them.
About three weeks later, on Nov. 4, 2016, Campos was sitting in a car with the Froste brothers when he spotted Moore entering a nearby barber shop and pointed him out, authorities said.
David Froste confronted Moore, 17, and forced him into the trunk of the car. From there, they picked up Shannon, and the foursome took Moore to “the cuts” — a remote area of Knights Landing — where they took turns bludgeoning him to death with a tree branch, then burned and buried his body, Jay Froste testified at his brother’s trial.
Neither of the teens’ bodies has been found, despite attempts by Campos, Shannon and Jonathan Froste to lead authorities to their burial locations following their arrests a year ago.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene.
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