Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: File for a hearing?

Everyone is entitled to a fair hearing, whether he's a minor or an adult.

Minors who commit serious crimes (and the sentence you describe suggests his crimes were serious indeed) are often tried as adults. The prosecutor must ask the court to do so and the defendant's attorney will fight such a request if there is any ground on which to challenge it. There are many ways to challenge such a decision, and defense counsel almost certainly pursued these avenues many years ago.

If the court agrees to try the minor as an adult, defense counsel can ask the Court of Appeal to intervene and order the defendant tried as a minor instead. If the Court of Appeal says no, he can raise the same issue in the state Supreme Court.

If that fails and the minor ends up being convicted as an adult, the issue can be raised again on direct appeal and, if it doesn't work there, can be brought again to the California Supreme Court.

If the argument fails there, it can be raised again in petitions for habeas corpus in the federal district court. If that court rejects it, defense counsel can appeal the decision to the circuit court and, from there, can ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

Defense counsel most likely took many of thse steps long ago. The issue is unlikely to get anywhere today unless either (a) defense counsel completely overlooked the fact that his client was a minor or (b) the law re: trying minors as adults has been changed retroactively since his trial was completed. Even if either (or both) of these situations are true, there is a good chance the issue was litigated once it became viable.

I'm afraid there is little chance anything remains to be argued at this point.