Crime and Public Safety

by By Julia Prodis Sulek May 22, 2026

Judge finds 13-year-old Santana Row stabber responsible for second-degree murder of teen

SAN JOSE — A Santa Clara County juvenile court judge Friday found a then-13-year-old suspected gang member responsible for second-degree murder for fatally stabbing a 15-year-old who was on a Valentine’s Day date at San Jose’s upscale Santana Row mall.

Prosecutors had urged a first-degree conviction for the accused boy, now 14, in the death of 15-year-old David Gutierrez, but said they were satisfied with the decision.

“I wouldn’t call today justice,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “I would say this was a small step in the right direction. I hope and pray that it gives David’s family, David’s mother some small sense of peace, some sense that we in this community care deeply about our children, we care deeply about David, and we never ever want another family to have to suffer the way David’s family has suffered.”

Lawyers for the teen’s defense, who left the courthouse without making any statement, had urged a finding of justified homicide because of self defense — arguing he might have believed David had a knife, though eyewitnesses testified he was unarmed and police found no weapon.

Judge Andrea E. Flint found that David was unarmed. The judge also found him responsible for two counts of robbery and two counts of assault, including for when he and the group of suspected gang members started trouble at Valley Fair Mall across the street less than an hour earlier, beating up a shopper in a red jacket and stealing his shoe; and then again at Santana Row, when one of the attackers stole David’s gold necklace when they beat him to the ground.

The penalty for the teen will be decided July 1. The maximum penalty for first- and second-degree murder by a minor younger than age 14 under California law is 8 months at a juvenile rehabilitation ranch. Rosen told reporters after the judge’s decision Friday that he would take the unprecedented step of asking the judge to confine him for seven years — the kind of penalty reserved for killers at least 14 at the time of the crime.

“There is the letter of the law, people say, and there’s the spirit of the law,” Rosen said outside Juvenile Hall. “Our job now in the DA’s office is to do everything we can to make sure that whenever this minor is released from custody, he doesn’t hurt another person, and that is what we will be conveying to the judge, to give a sentence that at least gives this minor the time that’s necessary to change his life. Whether he will or not, I don’t know.”

The teen will be 15 when he is sentenced, Rosen said, and has already been confined for more than a year awaiting trial. Rosen is taking the unusual step in asking for a more severe penalty following a change in California law in 2021 that stopped sending youth convicted of severe crimes to the state juvenile prison system, instead shifting the responsibility to county programs that focus on rehabilitation.

“We understand in the DA’s office that the juvenile court’s emphasis is on the rehabilitation of minors,” Rosen said. “That’s a central tenet of juvenile law and we agree with that in general. But there are exceptions when a minor’s actions demonstrate such extreme violence, then we must protect our community.”

The victim’s relatives, who have rallied outside Juvenile Hall over recent months calling for tougher juvenile penalties, also spoke to reporters, saying they consider Judge Flint’s decision “a victory,” even though she found that the prosecution didn’t prove first-degree murder.

“Today the judge did the right thing,” David’s mother, Veronica Gutierrez, said. “She was fair. It was very clear that David got attacked and killed for no reason.”

His aunt, Diana Gutierrez, said they will continue to fight for tougher penalties for juveniles responsible for murder.“David was the most beautiful person that I had in my life,” she said. “He was a friend. He was a brother. He was caring. And on February 14, he was taken from us, and this 13 year old didn’t just kill David, he killed our whole family.”

The Bay Area News Group is not naming the youth because he is a minor.

The trial that began in February relied largely on security videos from the outdoor mall in San Jose that showed the 13-year-old plunging the knife at least three times into David, twice in his arm and once in the heart.

Deputy Public Defender Jennifer Redding acknowledged the stabbing, but argued that her client may have believed David had a knife himself. The night of the stabbing, a police officer reviewing security footage had said that the way David was waving his arms, it appeared he might have had a weapon — but none was ever found and eyewitnesses testified that the 13-year-old was the only one armed.

She also presented expert witnesses who testified that the brains of 13-year-olds aren’t fully developed, leading them to act more rashly and impulsively. She also explained he had a difficult childhood, with his father in prison and he and his mother, who had drug problems, living for a time out of their car.

The attack began at about 7 p.m. on Feb. 14, 2025, when the 13-year-old arrived at Santana Row with a group of other suspected gang members. Deputy District Attorney Vietnam Nguyen, who tried the case, argued that David was targeted because he was wearing a red jacket – the color of a rival gang. Police and family say he had no gang ties and was wearing red for the holiday.

Videos showed that the boy who stabbed David, the youngest of the group of five, was the first to throw a punch and three others piled on. When a security guard broke up the attack, the assailants scattered. The youngest boy encountered David and his girlfriend just moments later at the fountain plaza next to the movie theaters and David, who was just recovering from the beating, challenged him to a “one on one,” the girlfriend had told police. The boydeclined. But the situation escalated as they circled each other for less than a minute. The girlfriend told police that she yelled at the minor that her boyfriend would beat him up. The 13-year-old then plunged his knife into David, who stumbled down the sidewalk and collapsed.

Wearing a grey suit, the boy sat solemnly at the defense table, with his mother in a row behind him. David’s mother and stepfather, aunt and grandmother wiped away tears as Judge Flint explained her decision.

In juvenile court, the judge’s ruling is considered a “decision” not a “verdict.” The minor is also considered “responsible” for the crime, not “guilty” of it. In deciding against first-degree murder, she said that prosecutors had not proven the minor had willfully, deliberately and with premeditation killed David.

“There is an insufficient showing the minor intended to kill David,” she said.

However, in finding him responsible for second-degree murder, she said the minor “intentionally committed the act of stabbing David,” and “deliberately acted with conscious disregard for human life.” The minor had been stabbed in the arm a year earlier, the judge noted, and knew the danger. He also chose to use a knife to stab David in the chest, rather than fighting with his hands.

“He stabbed David more than once,” Flint said, “even through David was retreating after the very first blow.”