A heartbroken mother whose teenage daughter died by suicide after the woman’s organic father had intercourse together with her is demanding Gov. Gavin Newsom crack down on California’s intercourse crime legal guidelines after the digusting dad escaped with only one yr in county jail.
Carolina Sandoval advised The California Submit she desires lawmakers to cross laws in daughter Makayla Rene Settles’ identify, after Stephen Vincent Chavez, 41, was sentenced to 1 yr in county jail and three years’ probation after pleading responsible to felony incest and furnishing alcohol to a minor.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s not justice,” Sandoval, 40, mentioned of the sentence. “I’m going to struggle to alter these legal guidelines as a result of no different household ought to must undergo what we’ve gone by means of.”
Settles, 18, had moved from her childhood residence in North Carolina to Moorpark, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, to stay together with her father. In July of 2025, Chavez plied her with alcohol earlier than having intercourse together with her. Makayla died by suicide 5 months later.
Prosecutors finally didn’t file a rape cost, saying the proof solely supported the incest conviction. Chavez insisted the encounter was consensual.
Sandoval mentioned different victims of sexual abuse who attended Chavez’s courtroom hearings blasted Newsom for what they consider is a weak method to prosecuting intercourse crimes.
“They let me know that is simply how he’s. If something, what occurred with Makayla proves all of them proper. It is smart why all people’s so indignant,” she mentioned.
“I might love for him to take the time to take a look at all the case and see what went fallacious and the place modifications can occur for different victims.
“It’s precisely why girls don’t converse out. They relive all the things again and again just for the tip end result to come back out like this. It’s a slap within the face.”
Sandoval mentioned prosecutors later advised her a rape cost couldn’t be confirmed past an affordable doubt regardless of her daughter giving detectives a number of statements, together with a recorded video interview.
“However as soon as she died, they advised me her proof was now not legitimate,” Sandoval mentioned.
“They even have an audio recording of Makayla telling her cousin what occurred. You’ll be able to hear the heartbreak in her voice. They’d all this data, however they mentioned it wasn’t sufficient.”
The sentence got here regardless of prosecutors asking the decide to impose the utmost three-year state jail time period over time in county jail.
The Ventura County District Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned Chavez admitted abusing a place of belief and acknowledged that Makayla was notably weak. He additionally should register as a intercourse offender for 20 years.
Erin Meister, chief deputy district lawyer in Ventura County who oversees the sexual assault unit, advised the Submit that proof to carry a possible rape cost towards Chavez was studied by by senior prosecutors. She added that it was “peer reviewed by authorized consultants from one other county, all of whom arrived on the conclusion that incest was the one felony cost supported by the details, the regulation, and the proof.”
Neama Rahmani, former federal prosecutor and president of Los Angeles-based West Coat Trial Attorneys, added to the Submit: “Useless girls inform no tales, and sadly Chavez unjustly benefited from his daughter’s tragic suicide.”
“With out her testifying and establishing lack of consent, the District Legal professional didn’t assume it may show rape. It’s a miscarriage of justice and sends the fallacious message to different perpetrators of incest and intercourse abuse.”
Newsom’s workplace mentioned it couldn’t touch upon choices made by native regulation enforcement or courts.
“The suggestion that Governor Newsom doesn’t take sexual assault severely is just false,” the governor’s workplace mentioned in a press release to the Submit. “All through his administration, the Governor has constantly signed laws, invested in survivor providers, strengthened protections for victims, and expanded sources to stop sexual violence and assist survivors.”
Carolina known as California’s intercourse abuse and rape legal guidelines “an enormous grey space,” including, “One thing has to alter. It appears like they cater to the predator greater than the sufferer.”
