An Orange County judge has reduced the potential sentence for a Chilean national accused of burglary after earlier finding that District Attorney Todd Spitzer showed racial bias in the case.
Superior Court Judge Michael Cassidy ruled Friday, June 12, that Jorge Navarretecorvalan’s base sentence, if convicted, cannot be higher than the midterm of four years. Navarretecorvalan could face more time with enhancements.
Deputy Public Defender Rose Angulo said in court documents that Spitzer had used Navarretecorvalan as the poster child in the prosecutor’s fight against a visa waiver program that allows Chileans into the United States without a background check.
Cassidy had earlier declared that a June 2024 news release issued by Spitzer had violated the California Racial Justice Act. The release announced burglary charges against Navarretecorvalan, 32, and an accomplice and derided the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for not dropping Chile from the visa waiver program because Chilean burglary crews were invading the United States.
Angulo, in an interview Friday said, “I’m grateful the court gave a remedy that addresses the Racial Justice Act violation.”
Spitzer, however, said the last word is yet to come.
“We will appeal this case all the way to the United States Supreme Court if we have to because race must never enter into the equation of prosecution and race must not be allowed to be used as a way to escape accountability,” he said. “The judge made an error in the law, and this is clearly not a Racial Justice Act case.
“The prosecution of organized crime rings is a core function of public safety, and it is beyond disturbing that there is any attempt to violate the First Amendment and prevent me from carrying out my sworn duty to protect public safety,” Spitzer added.
In his 2024 news release, Spitzer warned, “Instead of holding Chile accountable and preventing a direct pipeline for organized crime to shuttle thieves into the United States, (then) Secretary (Alejandro) Mayorkas’ inaction is resulting in Americans continuing to be terrorized by criminals who are stalking them in their houses and waiting for the perfect moment to break their back sliders and steal their most prized possessions.”
In 2022, 350,000 Chilean nationals entered the United States through the ESTA visa waiver program without background checks, the release said.
Spitzer’s news release detailed charges against Navarretecorvalan and Alejandro Tobarfuentes for allegedly stealing a safe, jewelry and designer bags from a San Juan Capistrano home and causing a wrong-way collision while fleeing police. Navarretecorvalan was the alleged driver. Both men had entered the country through the ESTA program and possessed forged identification cards identifying them as Venezuelans.
Navarretecorvalan is awaiting trial. Tobarfuentes pleaded guilty to felony first-degree burglary and escaped for a short time from a state prison camp in Los Angeles before he was recaptured.
The Racial Justice Act, enacted in California in 2020, prohibits bias toward a defendant based on race, ethnicity or national origin. It doesn’t matter the degree of bias, only that it was shown to exist. The law has a lower legal standard for proving bias, which is “by a preponderance of evidence.”
In court documents, Angulo said Spitzer highlighted Navarretecorvalan’s nationality in tirades against shortcomings in the visa waiver program. This was despite the fact, Angulo said, that Navarretecorvalan’s status as a Chilean national had nothing to do with whether he was guilty of burglary.
Spitzer’s comments made it appear to the public and potential jurors that Chilean nationals are deceptive and that those who commit crimes are worse than domestic criminals, Angulo said in court documents.
The Navarretecorvalan case isn’t the first time that Spitzer has run afoul of the Racial Justice Act. In 2022, a judge ruled that Spitzer showed racial bias in comments he made in a closed-door meeting to decide whether to seek the death penalty against a Black defendant, Jamon Buggs, in a double murder case. Both victims were White.
Spitzer asked about the race of Buggs’ former girlfriends and said he “knows many Black people who enhance their status by only dating ‘White women,’ ” according to internal district attorney memos. The defense said Buggs mistook one of the victims for an ex-girlfriend.
Spitzer decided not to pursue the death penalty, and Buggs was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. No remedy was issued for the racial bias violation in the Buggs case since Spitzer had already taken the death penalty off the table.