Rangel is accused of being<\/a> the gunman who shot Quick at close range, and he is expected to begin his own transfer hearing \u2014 where a judge will determine if his case will be transferred out of the juvenile system \u2014 and trial in the coming months.<\/p>\n Michael faces four to seven years in custody, or up until she turns 25. Fresno County Superior Court Judge Brian Alvarez, who convicted her, set a hearing around her sentencing for Sept. 2.<\/p>\n Regardless of her sentence, she will do her time at the Fresno County facility, Probation Department Deputy Chief Kayatana Davis confirmed.<\/p>\n The last youthful offender left the state\u2019s Department of Juvenile Justice on June 30, 2023. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 823 in 2020, prohibiting counties from sending any more juveniles into the long-troubled DJJ midway through 2021.<\/p>\n So Michael will remain at the Fresno County campus throughout her sentence, and a number of programs and options will open up for her that have not been available before being sentenced, Davis said. The state\u2019s juvenile systems have a greater focus on rehabilitation and less on punishment.<\/p>\n \u201cShe will have more enhanced and potentially court-ordered programming that any youth can do,\u201d Davis told The Bee. \u201cSo not just for her, but any youth may have a substance abuse counseling order, may have anger management, may have some type of cognitive behavioral intervention specifically that\u2019s ordered in addition to what we offer.\u201d<\/p>\n SB 823 also calls for counties to use the \u201cleast restrictive appropriate environment.\u201d Davis said that means a judge could rule Michael can be placed on an ankle monitor, but she stressed that option would be \u201cway down the line. After they have served quite a percentage of their committed baseline term.\u201d<\/p>\n Welfare and Institutions Code section 875<\/a> in California also allows for a youthful offender to undergo a review every six months. A judge takes the recommendations of a team that reviews the conduct of the offender, which includes a probation officer, social worker and other staffers. The judge can use those findings to determine if the youthful offender can have time shaved off the end of their sentence.<\/p>\n Advocates for the move away from a focus on punishment for youthful offenders point to the state\u2019s history of violence and neglect<\/a> in the facilities.<\/p>\n The families of many victims of serious crimes of youthful offenders often push back against the evolving ideas that a young person\u2019s brain has not developed completely until the age of 25. They argue the offenders receive a light sentence, have no record when they leave custody and may be a threat to re-offend.<\/p>\n Among those critics is Stephen Quick, the father of the teen Michael was convicted of killing. He said he was glad<\/a> the judge found Michael guilty, but he stopped short of celebrating.<\/p>\n Quick said he believes Michael should have been sentenced to 25 years to life, the sentence she would have faced if she had been tried as an adult. He criticized the state\u2019s system that could allow for as much as 180 days, or six months, to be trimmed from her sentence if she meets the requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, it\u2019s a good win, but I feel like she\u2019ll be out in 2028. I just got this feeling,\u201d he said outside the courthouse on Monday. \u201cI have to come back in six months for probation for her, and then she has an opportunity to remove 180 days from her sentencing, and that happens every six months going until she\u2019s out.\u201d<\/p>\n Cassandra Michael, 18, enters Department 50 of the Fresno County Courthouse on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, on the third day of trial. She\u2019s accused of the murder of Caleb Quick from April 2025, when she was 16. THADDEUS MILLER tmiller@fresnobee.com
Stephen Quick wore a pin of himself and his son, Caleb, on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, the same day the girl accused of murdering his son was found guilty. The photo was from a Los Angeles Rams game at SoFi Stadium from December 2024, months before Caleb was murdered in Clovis. THADDEUS MILLER tmiller@fresnobee.com
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