OC DA Furious With Judge After 7-Strike Felon Gets 3-Year Sentence For Giving Man Brain Damage
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) – A 34-year-old Anaheim man with a lengthy criminal history -- which included seven prior convictions -- was sentenced to just three years in prison for punching a man at a La Habra birthday party last year, leaving him with permanent brain damage.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Roger B. Robbins Thursday sentenced Christian Isadore Dubose to three years in state prison for punching a man so hard it left him with the mental capacity of a 14-year-old, the O.C. District Attorney's Office reports.
Dubose had faced a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
Dubose punched the 34-year-old victim outside a birthday party at a La Habra apartment on April 13, 2018, prosecutors say. Dubose followed the man and his girlfriend outside and then punched him, unprovoked, after accusing him of owing Dubose $200.
Dubose fled after the punch caused the victim to hit his head on the ground and become unconscious, prosecutors say. He spent several months in the hospital being treated for severe brain bleeds, traumatic brain injuries and skull and face fractures. The assault left him with permanent cognitive defects, memory loss and the mental capacity of a 14-year-old, the DA's office said.
He also has to drag his left foot when he walks.
"It is unconscionable that someone who intentionally unleashed this level of violence after a lifetime of committing crime would be given such a lenient sentence," O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. "This slap on the wrist does little to hold the perpetrator accountable or protect our community from someone who has demonstrated an increasingly serious level of violence."
Back in March, Dubose plead guilty to one count of felony battery causing serious bodily injury and one misdemeanor count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury.
However, at his sentencing Thursday, Robbins did not take into account Dubose seven prior strikes, the DA's office said. Instead, he dismissed the enhancement of great bodily injury on the assault charge and reduced the felony assault charge to a misdemeanor.
At the time of the attack, Dubose had an extensive criminal history, prosecutors say, which included a conviction for a violent 2007 gang-related takeover robbery at a local business in which one person was pistol-whipped and a second was held at knifepoint.
The 81-year-old Robbins was the judge in two recent cases in which the sentence issued was considered lenient.
In May, Robbins sentenced a man to five years in prison for making racist threats against a pregnant black woman at a bus stop in Fullerton. The short sentence was worked out in a plea deal that upset prosecutors.
During sentencing of Tyson Mayfield, Robbins noted no weapon was used and the victim was not injured. Prosecutors had wanted a sentence of 38 years to life.
In August 2016, Robbins sentenced a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy to one year in jail for abusing his girlfriend, which included breaking the woman's nose and setting her hair on fire. Prosecutors and the victim strongly opposed the lenient sentence for Alejandro Flores, who faced a possible sentence of more than 20 years in prison.
Robbins was elected to the Orange County Municipal Court in 1986 and elevated to the Superior Court in August 1998 as part of the reorganization of the municipal court system.
Prior to becoming a judge, Robbins served as a deputy district attorney in Riverside County for more than 10 years. He received his bachelor's degree from USC in 1965 and a Juris Doctor degree in 1974 from Western State University College of Law.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
