A Stanislaus County judge found that nearly every factor used to determine whether Christopher Daniel Jones should be prosecuted as an adult weighed in favor of transferring him out of juvenile court.
Jones, now 22, was 16 when 14-year-old Maria Juarez was killed in the Dec. 26, 2020, shooting. He was later found responsible in juvenile court for his role in the shooting, which also wounded two other people.
The crime was extraordinarily serious. Jones had an escalating history involving firearms. Previous attempts at rehabilitation had not prevented further criminal conduct. And the judge found Jones played a substantial role in the December 2020 shooting that killed 14-year-old Maria Juarez and wounded two other people…