Cristian Fernandez, America's youngest 'lifer' ever

Cristian Fernandez is 12 years old. He should be playing outside with his friends. He should be going to school. He should be a lot of things.
Instead he is in solitary confinement awaiting his trial for the murder of his two year old brother. His younger brother died of a fractured skull. Cristian allegedly had beaten him to death. He was brought to the hospital and died of his injuries two days later.
If he is tried as a juvenile, he will be free by the time he is 21. If he is tried as an adult, he will be in prison for the rest of his life and will be America's youngest 'lifer' ever.

Prosecutor Angela Corey says:"We have to protect the public from this young man'.
I wonder how a 12 year old kid can be a young man all of a sudden.

Cristian his arms and ankles need to be shackled, because he is a young man now, not a 12 year old kid.

Cristian didn't have a happy childhood. Cristian's mother was only 12 years old herself when she got him. They were both put in the foster care system when Cristian was two. From the beginning of his young life abuse was an every day occurrence. His stepfather shot himself in front of Cristian and other family members to avoid being arrested on child abuse charges.

But prosecutor Angela Corey doesn't care about that. "The fact that we indicted a 12-year-old in and of itself is a stunning event and a sad event in our prosecutorial lives that we had to do this, but it is the only legal mechanism that we can use to protect the community from this particular defendant at this point".
I wonder if she has ever heard of rehabilitation.

There isn't even a prison uniform small enough for him

His pictures are splattered all over in the media. Everyone knows Cristian. Crisitan only knows his cell 22 hours a day all alone. He is afraid of the dark, but there is no one to comfort him. He is a kid that doesn't know what is going on. He is a kid that might spend the rest of his childhood among adult and hardened prisoners.

But prosecutor Angela Corey doesn't care about that. " The public has a right to be protected from him. It's one where you go, at what point do you step in, so you prevent another murder, and that's how we felt in this case."
I wonder if she sleeps at night.

He is just a kid.


Because the system failed Christian when he was growing up, the system is now charging him as an adult. Does that make sense? Is that fair?

Please sign the petition:
https://www.change.org/petitions/reverse-decision-to-try-12-yo-cristian-fernandez-as-an-adult

Will you give 5 minutes to save a life?

Everyone deserves a fair trial. In a perfect world we don't make mistakes. In the trial of Paul Zumot many mistakes were made. Even worse, they were made on purpose. The prosecution wanted a conviction at any cost, so held back important evidence proving Paul's innocence.They succeeded. Despite the overwhelming evidence Paul is innocent, he was found guilty and is now awaiting his sentencing trial. He could face life without parole. If we stand by and do nothing, Paul could end up behind bars for the rest of his life. If you could take 5 minutes of your time and copy this letter and send it to the below addresses, you could ensure a new trial for Paul and save his life.


We refuse to give up hope. So we hope you will give us 5 minutes, just 5 minutes to save a life. Will you?

Letter


On October 15th 2009 Jennifer Schipsi was murdered and her body was set on fire in the cottage she shared with her boyfriend Paul Zumot.
Paul Zumot was found guilty of her murder. His sentencing trial will take place on his birthday; October 14th 2011. He could face a life sentence.



We would like to ask your attention for the following facts that havent been properly presented during his trial:



At the morning of Jennifer's murder, Paul left the cottage and didn't return until he received the news the cottage was on fire. A witness confirmed hearing her voice right before Paul left. He could prove his whereabouts by surveillance cameras and witnesses during that day. Therefore Paul Zumot had an alibi he couldn't have murdered Jennifer.


The prosecution stated that Paul didn't cooperate during interrogations, but at the same time refused to show the jury the tapes of the interrogations. After Paul was found guilty, the tapes were released and show that Paul was very cooperative. The tapes also show how Paul fell down crying uncontrollably, when he heard Jennifer was murdered.


When the cottage caught fire, Paul was in the shop he owned, 1,5 miles away from the crime scene. There were 2 witnesses confirming this. With 16 traffic lights and stop signs it took Paul 20 minutes to get to the cottage, when he received the news his house was on fire. The prosecution claims it took him 2 minutes to drive from the cottage to his shop.


Jennifer had made quite some enemies during the years. She got a restraining order against 2 men a week before her death, because she was afraid for her and Paul's life.
The police and prosecution never fully investigated other possible suspects.


Paul didn't have a motive. He was planning on proposing to Jennifer and wanted to build a future with her. It isn't in his character to murder anyone, let alone to murder the woman he loved.


The prosecution withheld important evidence that would jeopardize a conviction.


Most importantly; there is no physical evidence at all to link Paul to the murder. There were no witnesses seeing Paul at the scene of the crime during the murder or the fire.


The prosecution based their entire case on hearsay. With an alibi, no physical evidence and no witnesses seeing him at the crime scene, Paul Zumot should have been found innocent. The prosecution's job was to prove his guilt without any reasonable doubt. By not allowing all of the evidence to be shown during the trial, the jury made a decision based on what the prosecution wanted them to see. If the jury would have seen all the evidence, there would be more than reasonable doubt and Paul would have been released.


Based upon the above and more facts not even mentioned in this letter, we find that Paul Zumot deserves a fair trial. Therefore we urge you to review Paul's case again and give him a new trial.


People to contact:

Head of wrongful convictions department : dangel@da.sccgov.org
District Attorney: jrosen@da.sccgov.org
mgreenwo@pdo.sccgov.org
the Governor: http://gov.ca.gov/m_contact.php
Honorable Judge David Cena: sscriminfo@scscourt.org

Jeffrey F. Rosen
District Attorney
70 W. Hedding Street, West Wing
San Jose CA 95110
Phone: (408) 299-3099
Fax: (408) 286-5437

Jay Boyarsky
Chief Assistant District Attorney
Phone: (408) 299-3099

TOP RANKING ASSISTANTS
David Angel
Special Assistant District Attorney
Phone: (408) 792-2857
David Howe

More info can be found on www.paulzumot.com