On July 5, 2000, eight youths, ages 14-17, from the San Diego suburb of Rancho Peñasquitos came together and decided to go hunting for Mexicans. They drove to a canyon where Mexican migrants, mostly elderly, lived in makeshift shanties and worked at nearby nurseries and flower farms. Yelling, “Go back to Mexico,” the youths shot, robbed and beat five migrants, all in their sixties. Two weeks later, police arrested the eight youthful suspects, charging them as adults under provisions of Proposition 21, a California initiative authorizing the state to try youths as adults for serious crimes. Attorneys for the boys challenged the constitutionality of Prop. 21, leading to lengthy litigation which, two years later, they would lose. In July 2002, preliminary sentencing resulted in punishments ranging from 120 days in a youth camp |
