Murder of Stephanie Kuhen
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The murder of Stephanie Kuhen (October 4, 1991 – September 17, 1995) in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, California created significant media attention in the United States and led to crackdowns on Los Angeles street gangs.Pelisek, Christine.
Avenues of Death
" ''
LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...
''. July 14, 2005. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.


Incident

Around 1:45a.m. on September17, 1995, along Isabel Street in the Cypress Park neighborhood, a street nicknamed "Avenida . . . assecinos," an incorrectly spelled Spanish phrase meaning "Street of Killers" or "Avenue of the Assassins," members of The Avenues gang shot at a vehicle containing a family returning from a cookout; according to the prosecution the vehicle made a wrong turn into an alley. A 3-year-old girl named Stephanie Kuhen died, and Kuhen's stepfather and younger brother sustained injuries. The perpetrators were arrested and convicted.Wrong turn costs a child's life
" ''
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''. September 18, 1995. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
Gang Members Sentenced in ‘Wrong Way’ Shooting
" ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. August 2, 1997. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.
Community Law Enforcement And Recovery (CLEAR)
" ''
The Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal Police, police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the thir ...
''. Accessed August 27, 2008. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.


Legal action

On August 1, 1997, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edward Ferns sentenced 28-year-old Anthony Gabriel Rodriguez, 22-year-old Manuel Rosales, Jr., and 18-year-old Hugo David Gomez to 54 years and eight months to life in state prison. At that point, 17-year-old Augustin Lizama was to be retried. During the sentencing of the three convicted murderers, Margaret Fregoso, Rodriguez's grandmother, defended him and said that people outside of the court speculated that the Kuhen automobile traveled through the neighborhood so one or more occupants could purchase
recreational drug Recreational drug use indicates the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime by modifying the perceptions and emotions of the user. When a ...
s. Robynn Kuhen, the mother of Stephanie Kuhen, said that her family was trying to find a shortcut home and said that Fregoso's statements were not true. The defense in the trial suggested that the Kuhen family knew the layout of the area and would not have found themselves lost in their car. On Friday, August 29, 1997, Lizama agreed to a plea bargain in which he received a conviction for assault. Rodriguez,
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the penal law enforcement agency of the government of California responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. Its headquarters are in Sacrame ...
(CDCR) #K65397, was booked into the CDCR system on September 2, 1997. As of 2014, he is incarcerated at
Chuckawalla Valley State Prison Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (CVSP) is a male-only state prison located south of Interstate 10, in a detached section of Blythe, California in Riverside County. CVSP is adjacent to Ironwood State Prison. The prison is scheduled for closure. ...
. Rosales, CDCR#K65037, was booked on August 29, 1997. As of 2014, he is incarcerated at
CSP-Los Angeles County California State Prison, Los Angeles County (LAC) is a male-only List of California state prisons, state prison located in the city of Lancaster, California, Lancaster, in Los Angeles County, California. The only state prison located in the count ...
. Gomez, CDCR#K65384, was booked on September 2, 1997. As of 2014, he is incarcerated at
Pelican Bay State Prison Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a supermax prison facility in Crescent City, California. The prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about to the west. Facilities The prison is located in a detached section of Cre ...
.


Aftermath

Several days after the incident,
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
condemned the killing and said that the
United States Federal Government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...
would give money to anti-gang efforts. After the Kuhen incident,
Mayor of Los Angeles The mayor of the City of Los Angeles is the official head and chief executive officer of Los Angeles. The officeholder is elected for a four-year term and is term limit, limited to serving no more than two terms. (Under the Constitution of Califo ...
Richard Riordan Richard Joseph Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is an American investment banker, businessman, lawyer, and former Republican politician who was the 39th Mayor of Los Angeles, from 1993 to 2001. Born in New York City and raised in New Rochelle, New Y ...
asked the Criminal Justice Planning Office (CJPO) to create recommendations regarding gang crime. Several months after the Kuhen incident, the task force's suggestions lead to the creation of the Los Angeles City/County Community Law Enforcement and Recovery (CLEAR) program. Kuhen was buried in a private ceremony on Monday September 25, 1995. About 100 people attended the ceremony.


Analysis

George Ramos Latinos is a 27-part newspaper series on southern California's Latino community and culture of the early 1980s. The ''Los Angeles Times'' won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the series. The winning team of two editors and 11 repo ...
of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' reported that many Cypress Park residents were angered by the negative portrayal of their community in the media. Specifically mentioned were concerns that there was a perceived lack of attention to gang issues from the municipal government and their council member, Mike Hernandez. There was also anger about the ''Los Angeles Times'' posting large images of Stephanie Kuhen and her brother on the front page of the newspaper, stating that the media does not do this with ethnic minority children. Ramos said that the editor of the newspaper had asked for the images of the children to be posted before learning that they were white.Ramos, George.
Getting Past the Anger in Cypress Park
"

''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. September 25, 1995. Metro Part B Page 3. Retrieved on February 17, 2013.
Ramos also stated that many Cypress Park residents believed that if one is not from Cypress Park, one should be concerned with crime in his or her own neighborhood rather than in Cypress Park.
Allan Parachini Allan may refer to: People * Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name * Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker * Allan (footballer, born 1989) (Al ...
of the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
said that the media focused attention on the Kuhen case because the victim was
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
.
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, a ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' managing editor, said that race was not the reason why the media focused attention on the case.
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, a director at
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affiliate
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, also stated that race was not a factor in why the media covered the Kuhen case.
Larry Elder Laurence Allen Elder (born April 27, 1952) is an American right-wing political commentator and conservative talk radio host. Elder hosts ''The Larry Elder Show'', based in California. The show began as a local program on Los Angeles radio stati ...
, a
politically conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
talk show host, stated that law enforcement ignored the gangs in Cypress Park since most of the residents were Hispanic and Black.Noble, Kenneth B.
Child Is Slain, and a Neighborhood Voices Its Frustrations
" ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. September 22, 1995. Retrieved on February 15, 2009.


Notes


References


External links

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Three more arrested in toddler's shooting
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CNN. September 23, 1995. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhen, Stephanie 1991 births Murdered American children 1995 in California 1995 deaths 1995 murders in the United States Deaths by person in Los Angeles Deaths by firearm in California People murdered in Los Angeles Crimes in Los Angeles 1995 in Los Angeles Female murder victims Incidents of violence against girls