A violent pedophile who brutally raped and murdered his eight-year-old neighbor could be released from jail this fall due to a 2016 justice reform authored by Kamala Harris during her tenure as California’s Attorney General.
Adrian Jerry ‘AJ’ Gonzalez, 24, was just 15 when he lured Madyson Middleton into his mother’s apartment with promises of ice cream before strangling, stabbing and raping her.
The brutal killer then wrapped her body in plastic bags and threw it in a dumpster outside the Santa Cruz apartment complex where they both lived.
Now, Gonzalez is set for release when he turns 25 – a rule that applies to all offenders convicted in juvenile court in California.
AJ Gonzalez, 24, has served just three years of his sentence after pleading guilty in 2021 to the 2015 murder of his eight-year-old neighbor
Madyson Middleton, 8, was lured into Gonzalez’s apartment before he strangled, stabbed, raped and killed her in a crime that shocked their Santa Cruz community
The killer has benefited from California’s 2016 Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, also known as Proposition 57, which changed the rules on juvenile offenders and meant those who committed crimes before they turned 17 can only be moved to an adult court following a full hearing.
Criminals convicted in juvenile court are automatically eligible for parole when they turn 25 – meaning Gonzalez will have served just three years if he is released in stark contrast to the two life terms he would have faced in adult court.
Prop 57 also legislated for the release of ‘non-violent offenders’ before they have finished serving their full term – which has already led to criminals who went on to kill being busted out of jail.
The loose wording saw Harris criticized during her successful 2016 Senate run, with her opponent then-Rep. Loretta Sanchez pointing out that the now Vice-President’s definition of ‘non-violent’ crimes included the rape of an unconscious person and human trafficking.
In a statement released at the time, the Democrat said: ‘The ballot title and summary, written by Attorney General Kamala Harris, calls serious violent crimes ‘non-violent,’ including crimes such as rape by intoxication of an unconscious person, human trafficking involving a sex act with minors.
‘Proposition 57 is the misleading and dangerous ballot initiative that would allow serious, violent criminals out on early release without completing their sentences.’
Gonzalez, 15 at the time, was initially charged as an adult, before Harris’s 2016 Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act mandated that he was charged as a juvenile
Police said at the time of Madyson’s murder that they believed she was known to her killer, and detectives said they ‘don’t think she was taken against her will’ into the apartment
In Gonzalez’s case, the problem was compounded by a 2019 California Senate Bill called SB 1391 that extended Prop 57 and ruled that no-one who committed their crime under the age of 16 can be tried in adult court.
That meant Gonzalez’s 2021 trial had to be held in juvenile court even though he was 21 by then – and that he could only be sentenced to a maximum of three years.
The twisted killer is currently in the middle of a new hearing that will determine whether he is mentally fit to be released when he turns 25 in October.
Even if Judge Denine Guy decides Gonzalez is not yet ready for release, under Prop 57, he has an unlimited number of attempts at parole which means he could make another bid for freedom in two years.
Harris, who was careful not to state explicitly that she supported the legislation she wrote, has nonetheless long supported releasing underage criminals.
In June 2016, while the campaign for Prop 57 was in full swing, Harris released a mailshot entitled ‘Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Supports Legislation to End Juvenile Confinement.’
In the press release, she described measures to release juvenile criminals as ‘common sense’ and ‘smart on crime’.
She continued: ‘I am proud to support common-sense, ‘smart on crime’ legislation that helps those currently and formerly incarcerated overcome obstacles to get their lives back on track, and meet their full potential.’
She went on to trumpet other child-focused bills she supported, with the mailshot concluding: ‘Attorney General Harris has a longstanding commitment to protecting and supporting children, holding accountable those who exploit or harm children, and pursuing innovative legal and policy solutions to combat crime by investing in children from a young age.’
A psychologist who interviewed Gonzalez warned that when he committed the horrific crime, ‘he was aroused… she was an object to satisfy his sexual needs’
After Madyson’s body was found in her family’s apartment building, one resident said at the time that ‘it is the most horrible thing you can imagine’
The Gonzalez case sent shockwaves through the Santa Cruz community, with locals saying both Gonzalez and Madyson were known in the area.
One resident at the time told the LA Times that the case was ‘devastating.’
‘These are two of our kids, and one is dead and one has been taken away,’ they said. ‘This is the most horrible thing you can imagine.’
Despite his crimes and advanced age, Gonzalez has been serving his meager sentence in a youth prison called Sonoma County Juvenile Hall in Santa Rosa, California.
Although he was jailed for rape, the Senate Bill described as ‘common sense’ by Harris means he cannot be put in solitary confinement – and as a result is free to mingle with the rest of the prison population, which includes vulnerable boys as young as 15.
Last week, the court in Santa Cruz heard from forensic psychiatrist Dr. Ashley Mowrey who gave grim details about her 2023 interviews with Gonzalez, who told her his crimes were sexually motivated.
Mowrey said: ‘Mr. Gonzalez said he was aroused … she was an object to satisfy his sexual needs.’
The seasoned prison psychiatrist, who has worked with hundreds of sex offenders, said Gonzalez spoke about his crimes but did not go into details.
Prosecutor Tara George, who is attempting to prove that Gonzalez is still at high risk of reoffending, spoke further about the gruesome murder in her response.
‘Did he talk to you about the music he played as she was moaning, losing her breath in the garbage bag?’ George asked.
‘When he was choking her, she looked at him in the eyes? He was aroused when he thought she was dead?’ Mowrey responded, ‘No.’
Gonzalez wrapped his victim’s body in plastic bags and threw it in a dumpster outside the Santa Cruz, California, apartment complex where both of them lived
When she authored the law that could allow Gonzalez back on the streets, Kamala Harris described measures to release juvenile criminals as ‘common sense’ and ‘smart on crime’
In his defense, Chief Deputy Public Defender Athena Reis said the tests that had shown he poses a ‘moderate threat’ of reoffending were designed for adult sex offenders and not criminals in the juvenile system.
Mowrey also told the court that Gonzalez, the son of an absentee Mexican father and a Filipino mother, had become ‘very isolated and alienated from the world’.
The court also heard how during his time inside, Gonzalez had completed college-level classes online at the nearby Santa Rosa Community College and had participated in group therapy designed to boost his social skills.
He also struck up a ‘romantic relationship’ with a woman outside of jail conducted via phone and which has now ended.
While Harris has been trumpeting her career as a prosecutor on the campaign trail, the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act could prove a liability thanks to the succession of criminals handed early release who have gone on to commit murder.
Among those to benefit are 2022 Sacramento mass shooting suspect Smiley Martin and Jacqueline Avant’s killer Aariel Maynor, 32. One was gangbanger Smiley Martin, who was released just four years into a 10-year sentence for domestic violence.
A month after his release, which was strenuously opposed by prosecutors who pointed to his flagrant disregard for the law, Martin took part in a gun battle that turned downtown Sacramento into a bloodbath and left six dead.
Madyson’s murder shocked the Santa Cruz community, with mourners seen attending a vigil for the child in the city in 2015
Victims of the April 2022 shootout, which happened just a few hundred meters from the California State Capitol, included a homeless woman who was sleeping when the fight broke out.
Martin, 29, who was awaiting trial on murder charges alongside brother Dandre, 28, was found dead in his cell at the Sacramento County Jail in June.
Another killer released early was Aariel Maynor, 32, a serial felon who went oon to murder Jacqueline Avant, 81, during a home invasion in Beverly Hills in December 2021.
The victim, who was the wife of ‘Godfather of Black Music’ Clarence Avant, was shot in the back.
Her killer is now serving a 150-year sentence at the California State Prison in Lancaster and will not be eligible for parole until November 2147.
