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A teen who was underage and accused of a San Carlos couple’s death on Nov. 4, 2022, during a street race will be tried in juvenile court for two counts of second-degree murder.
In 2023, despite calls from the community to the contrary, the San Mateo County District Attorney requested Cesar Morales, who was 17 at the time of the crash, be transferred to adult court.
During a hearing on June 6, Judge Susan Irene Etezadi ruled that the teen’s case would remain in juvenile court.
“The judge felt compelled under (a) law to keep the case in juvenile court,” said San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe. “The murders of two innocent victims deserves a far greater punishment than that which will be imposed in juvenile court.”
Morales and Kyle Harrison, 24, allegedly were involved in a street race on El Camino Real at Howard Avenue in San Carlos on Nov. 4, 2022, traveling south on El Camino Real at speeds over 80 mph.
Law enforcement claimed that Harrison said he and Morales pulled up to the same traffic light, and Morales challenged him, with encouragement from his two unidentified minor passengers, to a race as the two revved their engines back and forth.
Morales hit the couple and their two twin daughters as they were driving, turning left onto El Camino Real from Finger Avenue in Redwood City, where their vehicle was allegedly broadsided by Morales, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
The crash resulted in the deaths of Grace Spiridon, 42, and Gregory Ammen, 44.
The twin daughters and the passengers of the other vehicle were transported to Stanford Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Since Morales is being tried in juvenile court, he can only be held in juvenile hall until he is 25 as opposed to the 30 years to life he could have faced being tried as an adult, according to the DA’s Office.
According to Wagstaffe, in recent years, the legislature and governor changed the law “to make it very difficult to have a case transferred to adult court.”
“As prosecutors, we do not enact the law; we merely implement it, whether we like the law or not,” he said. “I can assure you that the change in the law passed by our legislature and signed by our Governor is one I dislike and believe leads to unjust results.”
San Mateo County Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission Chair Johanna Rasmussen sees the decision to charge Morales in juvenile court as the only possible outcome.
“I think really it was the only outcome that could happen because (the judge) followed the law exactly as it was created and as the legislators intended it to be,” Rasmussen said. “You know, when we passed all of this juvenile justice reform, the goal was to keep children in the communities close to their families and to, you know, all the people and resources that could benefit them.”
According to San Mateo County Assistant District Attorney Sean Gallagher, the only cases they have ever asked to be transferred to adult court in the last five to eight years are murder cases.
Rasmussen disputes the facts of the prosecutor’s case.
“In Cesar’s case, this was a completely different story,” Rasmussen said. “This was not like some of the other cases we have where there’s murders and robberies involved and different things like that.”
Rasmussen argues that sending youths into juvenile detention centers is safer not only for them but also for the general public.
“The California state prisons are some of the most violent places on the planet,” Rasmussen said. “There’s not as many resources. There are certainly not as many programs. It’s a much more violent environment. So, if you send a young person who’s 18 years old into that environment, how can we expect them to get any better?
“We are much safer as a society if we rehabilitate these children, give them the programs and services they need in an environment that’s conducive to healing, and the California prisons are not conducive to healing,” she added.
Wagstaffe said that the decision to keep Morales in juvenile court would not have any bearing on future cases.
“There was no overriding principle involved in that case that would be meaningful in future cases,” Wagstaffe said. “The case stands on its own.”
At this time, there has been no discussion of a plea deal or resolving the case for Morales. There will be a pretrial conference in juvenile court sometime later this year, according to Wagstaffe.
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