city leaders are reporting progress in the opioid crisis and pointing to an encouraging trend. a patient kidnaped from a north bay hospital. the suspects arrested. it was all part of an unusual scheme, plus a release

denied. ten years after little maddy middleton was raped and murdered in santa cruz, a jury agrees that her killer should remain behind bars. >> this is ktvu fox two news at 730. >> that killing back in 2015 sent shockwaves throughout santa cruz. good evening everyone. i'm heather holmes, and tonight that case is back in the spotlight after a jury today decided to deny the killer's bid for freedom. so ten years ago, maddie middleton was lured to an apartment with the promise of ice cream there. the little 18 year-old. the little eight year old excuse me was kidnaped, raped and stabbed. her body put in a garbage bag. adrian gonzalez confessed to detectives he was 15 years old at the time of the crime. gonzalez has spent the last decade in the juvenile justice system, but petitioned the court for his release. under california law, any criminal who was convicted when they were 15 or younger can petition to be

released when they turn 25. over the last few months, a jury has listened to psychologists and other experts to determine whether gonzalez remains a threat to the public. and today, those jurors concluded that he is. senate bill 1391 that triggered today's hearing was among a slate of justice reform initiatives signed by governor jerry brown back in 2019. tonight, we want to go in depth on this law and take a closer look at the intentions and the consequences. here now live with me is david ball, santa clara university law professor specializing in criminal law. professor, thanks so much for being here tonight. this was by far the most controversial of the reforms that were signed by then governor brown. what is the core purpose of this law? >> well, it's a couple of different things. so first of all, the juvenile justice system has always occupied a sort of different role than the criminal justice system. and the thinking behind that is that because juveniles aren't fully adult,

that we should really you know, the theory is that we should focus on ensuring rehabilitation and that perhaps it's not as appropriate to exact retribution on them because they're not fully formed. you know, there are a variety of rationales for this that are given in some supreme court cases that say, you know, no execution for anyone who committed their crime under the age of 18. and those have to do with impulse control. and the fact that the brain doesn't really come fully online until sometime in your mid 20s. and so 1391 was really a kind of return to what had been the norm before the 1980s of, you know, not charging children as adults. so that sort of rolled back, you know, a trend in the sort of tough on crime era of the 80s that said, no, you know, anyone can be charged as an adult, depending on the case. and, you know, adult filing would sort of depend on the circumstances in the case that was made by the district attorney. so 1391 said,

we're going to have statewide, you know, sort of bar on anyone below the age of 16 being able to be filed in adult court. so being treated as an adult. and part of the other rationale behind this was that there were geographic disparities and also racial disparities in terms of who was whose cases were filed in adult court. so you could view it as a standardization. you could view it as a sort of commitment to the idea that children are different than adults, even when they commit terrible crimes. you know, there are a variety of ways of looking at that. >> okay. so when a criminal petitions the court for their release, what does the jury consider? what type of evidence is presented? >> well, i mean, it's more or less automatic, right. so this was not a strategic move on on behalf of mr. gonzalez or his attorneys. right. it's when you reach the age of 25, that's when the juvenile justice system kind of runs out of room. and what he has to prove is that he's not

going to be physically dangerous to the public. and, you know, so that's when we'll look and see, you know, the theory is that, you know, you change a lot up until the time about the age of 25, and they presented evidence and they were not able to convince the jury that, you know, despite the rest of his brain development taking place then, that he was still dangerous enough and should not be released. this is a relatively, again, the whole issue of when someone is ready to be released. we do this for three strikes crimes. we do this for first and second degree murders that don't have special circumstances. you know, 15 years to life, 25 years to life, where some decision making board in this case it was a jury. usually it's the parole board decides is this person, you know, rehabilitated and ready for reentry. and if they're not, they're kept in prison. and so in this instance, they decided that he wasn't. and he's going to, you know, remain in custody unless and until he's able to prove that he's not going to be

physically dangerous to the public. >> david, we're just about out of time. but gonzalez, in this case, he will be held in juvenile detention for two additional years. so two year increments. is there a cap on the number of such remands? >> no, i mean, not as far as i understand really. you know, for carve outs that involve dangerousness, that's the purpose of parole is to say, well, there's a sort of minimum amount of time you can expect to serve, but, you know, for certain crimes and for certain sort of regulatory or criminal law schemes, we decide that, yeah, it's really important to make sure that we get it right and that someone is released only when they're ready to reenter society in a in a positive way. >> all right. really appreciate you walking us through this law. we felt like it was important to revisit given that it passed so many years ago. really appreciate you taking the time. thank you. >> my pleasure. >> well, now to some developing news to tell you about. in san francisco, police say that a boy was sent to the hospital after a

shooting this afternoon around three. it happened on 37th avenue and santiago streets in the city's outer sunset district. now, there's no exact word on the age of that young victim, but we're told the boy is expected to be okay. investigators are working to piece together what led up to today's shooting. now we go to the north bay and three suspects have been charged with kidnaping a man from a nursing facility in novato. and tonight, that victim is recovering from the terrifying ordeal. our crime reporter, henry lee, live now for us in the newsroom. and, henry, police say this was part of an unusual scheme. >> yeah. heather, the victim lived at the skilled nursing facility because he could not legally take care of himself. and police say he was rolled out in a wheelchair and kidnaped. and that a nurse who to stop it all was attacked. police say a 60 year old man who could not care for himself was kidnaped over the weekend from a skilled nursing facility in novato. >> the suspects entered the facility through a back door, and they did so without checking in with staff. >> i've learned from court records that the victim is 60

year old dean birx, and that the incident happened at novato health care center, which bills itself as marin county's premier skilled nursing facility. novato police lieutenant alan bates said it happened at about 1130 saturday morning as the suspect snuck the victim out the back of the facility where he lives. >> they then wheeled the patient out the back door and to the parking lot and loaded him into a vehicle. >> marin county sheriff's deputies spotted the vehicle, a honda crv on highway 101, in sausalito. the victim was found inside and taken to a hospital as a precaution. arrested was the driver, 48 year old michael edward roberts, who also allegedly attacked a nurse during the kidnaping, also taking into custody 56 year old paula birx, a relative of the victim, as well as 60 year old laura boyle. all three have been charged by the d.a. with burglary, kidnaping, conspiracy and false imprisonment of an elder or dependent adult, which are felonies. i've learned boyle's 38 year old daughter has also been implicated in the case, but she has not been charged. the four are all from orange county. the victim was

considered to be at risk and was under conservatorship, in which a judge had appointed someone to manage his affairs. >> the suspects in this case are known to the patient, to our victim, but they are not the rightful conservators. >> police say the defendants tried to fraudulently obtain conservatorship for financial gain by kidnaping the victim. >> it's important to note that conservatorships are legally binding civil actions, and that trying to circumvent that is inappropriate and potentially illegal. >> authorities say the victim was particularly vulnerable because of his condition, which included cognitive disabilities. >> the fact that a conservatorship was in place tends to lead most people to understand what the patient's state was. >> now, i've reached out to the administrator of this facility but have not heard back. heather. >> all right. henry lee, thanks for following up on it. appreciate it. well, at kaiser permanente, patient is suing the bay area health care giant, saying that he was sexually assaulted during a surgery last year. the lawsuit filed by michael timothy been accuses kaiser, a medical assistant and

a doctor, of negligence and battery. he alleges that a medical assistant touched him inappropriately at kaiser in san rafael a year ago as he was sitting in a surgical chair having melanoma surgery on his face. >> my right side. the medical assistant was thrusting his hip, his hips and his erect #### into my arm over and over again throughout the entire procedure. >> the lawsuit requests a jury trial as well as financial compensation. kaiser permanente responded with a statement saying in part, quote, while we cannot comment on an active legal matter, we want to be absolutely clear that we take any such allegation extremely seriously. all right. full steam ahead on transit projects. we'll tell you about the legislation unveiled today to streamline the process. and it was the site of a major fire just last month. we'll now word of a new fire at that battery plant in monterey

county. >> and, heather, i heard you mention full steam ahead. and that's what we're doing as far as the temperatures are concerned. the warm up 75 degrees. where and when your bay area

i'm not happy with the way that pg&e handled the wildfires. yeah. yeah. i totally, totally understand. we're adding a ton of sensors. as soon as something comes in contact with the power line, it'll turn off so that there's not a risk that it's gonna fall to the ground and start a fire. okay. and i want you to be able to feel the improvements. we've been able to reduce wildfire risk from our equipment by over 90%. that's something i want to believe. [skateboard sounds]

senator scott wiener talking about his recently introduced legislation meant to streamline permitting for major transit projects here in california. senate bill 445 will impose would impose deadlines on local governments, companies and districts to comply with permitting processes. and if they don't meet the deadlines,

well, transit authorities would be allowed to begin construction. this would apply to big infrastructure projects, including the california high speed rail. the bill has been sent to the committee on rules for assignment. san francisco's richmond district is the first now to receive new high speed cameras in the city. it was installed at geary boulevard and seventh avenue today. the location was selected due to high crash rates as well as significant speeding issues. walk san francisco said it worked with traffic victims for six years to pass legislation to approve the cameras. safe streets advocate jenny yu, whose mother was hit by a speeding driver, says that her mom suffered lifelong injuries that could have been less severe had the driver followed the speed limit. >> to reduce the damage of any crashes or, you know, the severity, reducing how much someone is speeding or eliminating any speeding is kind of twofold. >> 33 intersections in san francisco will eventually get cameras. they are expected to be up and running by next month.

okay, let's check in on our weather and bring in our meteorologist, roberto gonzalez, because some warmer temperatures are on the way. roberta. >> yeah. did you have any rain today? >> i did this morning. >> yeah, it was nice, right? we didn't get a whole lot of rain, but it was just as the computer models had expected and it panned out something like this. 4/100 of an inch of rain in san francisco, 6/100 in hayward, and a 10th apiece in half moon bay and in la honda. again, not a lot, but we'll take it. meanwhile, our air temperatures today banked from 56 degrees and 2/100 of an inch of rain in fairfield to 50 in san francisco, pacifica and san mateo. otherwise, everybody warm to the low and mid 60s. it was 65 degrees in redwood city and in redwood shores. so the passage of that cold front, it is out of here. upstream we're looking at another area of low pressure that will not affect us. it will affect eureka and crescent city. hey, eureka today

picked up a full inch of precipitation. meanwhile, we're taking a look at our local satellite imagery. i'm going to zoom on in. i see a little green on the screen there. it looks like virga. we are reporting partly to mostly cloudy skies along the san mateo coast here. but i believe a lot of this is rain that's evaporating before it hits the landmass. otherwise, looking out towards the salesforce tower this evening, we do have a few clouds down to about 400ft. not there. that stands 1000ft and visibility is at ten miles. temperatures right now into the 50s. across the board it has dipped to 51 in san francisco. the winds are up to 12 at sfo. otherwise, pretty gentle winds at this hour. the winds will blow tomorrow up to 15mph. with the passage of this cold front. so we have seen the showers decrease. we have the winds. they will be a little bit on the increase in the overnight hours, up to about 15mph. here's your future cast. and we do have sun up tomorrow morning right before 6 a.m. and a little hint

of some fog. that's about it. by the time the sun does set. tomorrow night we will have clear skies. it's going to make for a great sunset coming up on friday night. look at the clouds. a lot of clouds, but no precipitation. if you're heading to the tahoe area. bluebird skies all the way through the weekend. tonight, overnight. 30s and 40s across the board tomorrow. my outside number is 67 degrees. but wait, it gets better. how about near 70 on friday and san jose in the south bay will bask in low and mid 70s through monday. heather. >> roberta. thank you. well, there has been a flare up at the battery storage plant in monterey county, where a huge fire broke out just last month. the fire was first reported at about 630 last night at the vistra plant in moss landing. county officials say flames ignited under a pile of rubble that had previously burned and quickly intensified. last night, people who live nearby were advised to keep their windows and doors closed. monterey

county authorities say the fire burned and burned out at about 8:00 this morning, and advisories were lifted just this afternoon. >> residents close by are concerned or they smell smoke. they can if they if they'd like to keep their windows closed. if you must work outside and you smell smoke or you see smoke and you you may want to wear an n95 respirator. but for now, it looks like the situation is under control. >> the epa says that it has not seen any signs of adverse health effects. the building is being monitored for any further signs of rekindling. the marin county sheriff's office sounding the alarm tonight over a recent spike in a certain type of scam targeting a certain group of people. plus, protecting public information as the trump administration removes data from federal health websites. we'll tell you about the m e

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it was 730. the marine county sheriff's office says it has seen a spike in internet and phone scams, specifically targeting older adults. the sheriff's office says in some cases, the victim receives a pop up on a computer claiming to be from a bank with a phone number to call. deputies say when the victim calls that number, the person on the other line asks them to withdraw money from their bank. while each incident is unique, sheriff's deputies say they've identified commonalities in many of these cases. >> the two most common that we've had recently have been a bail scam, where someone will call on either a claim to be working for a sheriff's department or at the jail, and that a loved one was recently arrested and that they need to post bail money. the other scam that happens very often is they get a pop up or some sort of an electronic alert saying that there was fraud on their bank accounts or some antivirus software pops up and there's a number or email address that they requested to contact. the sheriff's office recommends to

not contact any phone numbers provided on pop ups or alerts. and if a caller claims to be from a bank or a law enforcement, hang up and call your bank directly. law enforcement officials also say they would never call to request financial withdrawals. san francisco has now joined a lawsuit to protect access to critical public health data. the lawsuit is led by the group doctors for america. it comes after the trump administration's attempt to erase decades of public health information from federal agency websites. according to san francisco district attorney david chiu, the suit seeks to preserve access to essential public health data that medical professionals rely on to treat patients, and that local health departments use to protect communities from infectious disease and public health threats. nba all-star weekend has wrapped up, but it's still getting a lot of buzz. coming up, how one bart train full of students got a big surprise

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parade is returning this sunday. it's one of several events around the bay area celebrating black history month, and one that's certainly great for the kids. with 200 vendors, a kids zone, and live performances. earlier today on the four, i spoke with doctor kendra mcneil, pediatrician at kaiser permanente east bay, and she says she shared some tips on how parents can bring this kind of

engaging learning into their home on their own for black history month. >> next week is actually a black children's black children's book week, and so every library throughout the bay area is having activities to celebrate this so they can go to the library with their kids and, and check out different things and see things that they may not not have otherwise had a chance to engage with. more events over the next few weeks in the bay area include walking tours and storytimes with children's fairyland, and a special family film screening right there at sfmoma. so be sure to check those things out. well, a bart car full of oakland students got a surprise visit over nba all-star weekend from a golden state warrior. kevon looney shocking. a train filled with students from claremont middle school on saturday at the west oakland bart station. bart today, sharing the moment that looney rode with the students all the way to san francisco as he signed autographs, posed for selfies, and joined the kids shooting baskets near chase center at a fan activation with

a hoop bus, a nonprofit focused on bringing basketball to underserved communities. quite an experience for those students. a north bay developer just got approved to build the very first new marina on san francisco bay in almost 25 years. kenwood investments, based in sonoma, plans to spend $25 million to build an expanded marina in clipper cove, which separates treasure island and yerba buena island. the new marina will replace aging docks and is designed to accommodate all sizes of vessels. construction is expected to begin next year, with a projected finish in two years. that is going to do it for me tonight on this wednesday evening. appreciate you watching the news at 730. make sure to download the fox local app to your smart tv and your cell phone. and i hope to see you right back here tomorrow night for the news at 730. have a good one.

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