![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788600861_429_sut-l-sarah-santiago-01.jpg\")
Sarah Santiago. (Winston-Salem Police Department)<\/p>\n
Those charges are filed in North Carolina, where the girl lives, not California, the site of the attack.<\/p>\n
Asked why the girl is not being tried in California, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan did not say whether her office reviewed the case, but noted there is a more direct path to trying a minor as an adult in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur system in California would not allow for the same level of accountability in this instance as the criminal system in North Carolina will allow,\u201d Stephan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be ideal that all prosecutions related to these hate-inspired killings be handled in San Diego,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, it is important that justice be attained for the victims to the greatest extent possible. In this particular prosecution, justice will be served through the court in North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephan said she was limited in what she could say so as not to jeopardize a potential prosecution, and said the investigation involves agencies across multiple jurisdictions. She said her office is still \u201cactively working with our law enforcement partners to examine this heinous crime from every angle to determine whether there are individuals who can be held criminally liable for their involvement.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the first prosecution filed in the incident. The shooters, Cain Clark, 17, and Caleb Vazquez, 18, were found dead in a car a short distance from the mosque in a double-suicide or murder-suicide.<\/p>\n
On May 18, the teens, apparently radicalized online by hate, arrived at the Islamic Center in Clairemont. About 140 people were there, many of them young children attending school. Armed and wearing GoPro cameras, the teens killed three congregants, including a security guard who engaged them in a gunfight.<\/p>\n
Investigators came to learn that three people had been watching the livestream, including a female somewhere in the Eastern time zone. Santiago was later arrested.<\/p>\n
The indictment filed in Winston-Salem, where Santiago lives, alleges she aided and abetted in murder by agreeing to record the livestream, then disseminate it and the manifesto that purportedly justifies the attack. The charges also allege she bought a patch bearing a Nazi-linked symbol and sent it to Vazquez, who wore it during the attack.<\/p>\n
Santiago\u2019s attorney said that his client is innocent of the charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allegations are that my client did aid and abet these heinous crimes. The questions as yet unanswered \u2014 how and when,\u201d defense attorney Alan Doorasamy Sr. said.<\/p>\n
He said the two gunmen \u201ccertainly did not need any third party advising, instigating, encouragement, procuring or help to commit these crimes from anyone. Their manifesto will testify posthumously against them on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trying a minor as an adult<\/p>\n
In North Carolina, a 17-year-old can be charged as an adult from the start.<\/p>\n
Not so in California, where the law requires that a criminal case for anyone under 18 start in juvenile court. If prosecutors want to transfer the case to adult court, they must petition a judge to hold a hearing to evaluate the matter. Under the law, the court must \u201cfind by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is not amenable to rehabilitation\u201d in the juvenile system.<\/p>\n
The transfer request is an \u201carduous and cumbersome process,\u201d San Diego defense attorney Jan Ronis said. And at the end of it, it\u2019s possible that a judge will find the teen is better off staying in juvenile court.<\/p>\n
Still, transfers to the adult court do happen. Late last month, a youth who\u2019d been found guilty of murder was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison<\/a> in the 2024 Oak Park shooting death of a cannabis delivery driver who the teen and an accomplice had planned to rob. The youth was 16 at the time of the killing.<\/p>\n With the understanding that a teenager\u2019s brain is not fully developed, California has made several reforms to the law regarding juvenile offenders, including creating what is known as \u201cyouthful offender parole.\u201d People sentenced to at least 15 years for a crime they committed before age 26 may be eligible for an earlier parole hearing. An example of that happened last month, when a woman who was a teenager in 2007 when she teamed with her sibling to kill their stepfather in his San Diego home was found suitable for parole<\/a>.<\/p>\n Legal experts the Union-Tribune spoke with said trying Santiago in federal court might have been an option, but all noted that, like California, the case starts on the juvenile side, which loses jurisdiction of the offender at age 21. To try a minor as an adult, San Diego defense attorney Danielle Iredale said, federal prosecutors have to produce enough evidence and argument to convince a judge to transfer the case out of juvenile jurisdiction.<\/p>\n And when it comes to trying juveniles in federal court, there is a preference for funneling the case toward state court. \u201cThe presumption is always against federal prosecution if the federal government\u2019s interests can be adequately served by the state prosecution,\u201d said University of San Diego School of Law professor Donald Dripps.<\/p>\n Sometimes it goes the other way. Two 15-year-olds were hired shooters in a cartel-linked assassination attempt in Chula Vista that left one of their accomplices dead. Authorities alleged the cartel intentionally hired the teens because, since they were younger than 16, they could not be charged as adults in California. Federal prosecutors stepped in and cleared the hurdle to get the pair tried as adults.<\/p>\n The teens later pleaded guilty<\/a> to murder in aid of racketeering and attempted murder in aid of racketeering, and were each sentenced to 25 years<\/a> in federal prison.<\/p>\n The law in North Carolina<\/p>\n