By Cailin Garcia
SACRAMENTO – Judge Helena Gweon invited a disabled victim of a home invasion to make a statement before the Sacramento County Superior Court judge sentenced defendants Isis Bolton, Anttwaneck Hobby, and Catherina Wilson to months in custody after they accepted plea deals from Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gong.
Before their sentencing began, the victim gave an emotional impact statement describing the burglary and assault committed by Bolton, Hobby, and Wilson, who broke into her apartment complex and assaulted her 13-year-old son.
The victim appeared in court via Zoom call, her video projected on the screen while the three defendants and their lawyers appeared in person.
“The matter is on for hearing on the report of probation and for imposition of judgement and sentence. Because of the courtroom set-up and the need to socially distance, although all three defendants are here, I will sentence each one at a time,” said Judge Gweon said, who asked that everyone maintain a safe social distance from each other and had the three pairs of defendants and lawyers spread out in the courtroom.
“I want to give you an opportunity to make your victim impact statement and all three defendants and their attorneys are here and they can hear you. At this time, would you like to make a statement to the court?” asked Judge Gweon.
“Yes, I would. What I have to say about the incident is that two out of three defendants, I didn’t even know. I had never met them, had no prior relationship at all. Only Ms. Bolton,” the 
victim began.
“They came and kicked in my door and they assaulted my 13-year-old son. You know, none of these charges include child endangerment, so I feel like they’re getting a pretty good deal,” said the victim, going on to explain that the incident also forced her to relocate to a new apartment.
“It cost me a lot to relocate. I had to get security doors and security cameras because my son, my 13-year-old son who is 14 now, is still traumatized by the event that happened,” the victim continued. “I’m still dealing with the effects on my son, he’s different now. I’ve been dealing with that as well as my own trauma.”
The victim made a point to highlight how the situation affected her as a disabled person.
“As a disabled person, you know, I really felt attacked. I’m not sure if they were aware, like I said I didn’t know the other two defendants. Doing these things, committing crimes against anyone, is unacceptable, but disabled people, you know, it takes an extra toll,” she said. “I can’t run. I do not have the ability to run. So trying to defend myself in this situation was a new circumstance for me to deal with.”
“I understand ma’am and I appreciate your appearing today and giving your statement. Is there anything else you wanted to say ma’am?” said Judge Gweon.
“I hope that they don’t decide to commit any crimes in the future against anyone, let alone people who are disabled. And it’s really unfortunate that it had to come to something like this. Because jail’s not a nice place and getting a record, you know, it should have been avoided,” the victim finished.
After the victim’s impact statement, Anttwaneck Hobby was the first defendant to be sentenced. She was facing two charges: one felony count for burglary and one misdemeanor for assault. In light of the plea deal, the felony charge was dismissed and Hobby pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor.
Hobby’s defense attorney, Larenda Delaini, attempted to argue that Hobby should only serve 30 days in custody, noting that she had “minimal involvement” in the incident. She also alleged that another one of the victims, not the person who made the impact statement, had been sending Hobby threatening messages.
“He has threatened to kill her and her family. He has sent messages to her indicating ‘I know where you live, I know where your family lives,’ things of that nature, just to give you a flavor of Ms. Hobby’s involvement and her own victimization in this case,” said Delaini. “Additionally, Ms. Hobby is a single mother. She has a young child at home and she also takes care of her mother, who is ill. A lesser time would allow her to take care of those things.”
DDA Gong rejected Delaini’s argument and asked Judge Gweon to sentence Hobby to 90 days in custody, adding, “Her conduct is brazen. She has no regard for other people’s safety or their property. I think a misdemeanor is fair in this case, but I am asking for 90 days and I do not think that’s unreasonable,” said Gong.
“This was not a minimal or trivial crime,” said Judge Gweon, noting that Hobby and the others assaulted the victim’s minor son. Hobby was sentenced to serve 90 days in county jail with an option to complete the Sheriff’s Work Project as well as one year of informal probation.
After Hobby’s sentencing, defendant Catherina Wilson was next to be sentenced. Wilson was represented by Assistant Public Defender Quoc-Anh To.
To requested that she serve 60 days of work project, noting that Wilson had no criminal history before this incident. Gong countered with a request of 160 days.
Wilson was facing three charges: one felony for burglary, one misdemeanor for assault, and another misdemeanor for discharging a “tear gas weapon.” According to the victim, Wilson sprayed her son with pepper spray.
Wilson pleaded no contest to the assault charge, which was changed to a felony due to the terms of the plea deal. The other charges were dropped.
“The factors in mitigation is that Ms. Wilson has no known prior record of criminal conduct and she voluntarily acknowledged wrong-doing at an early stage in the criminal process. What is lacking, in terms of mitigating factor and would be a mitigating factor, is that I have not observed or heard no showing of remorse,” said Judge Gweon.
“What is also aggravating is that there were multiple victims in this case, including a 13-year-old child. And this occurred inside of a home, where victims have a right to feel safe and secure. There was also strength in numbers in a group of people coming back to this home, which was obviously pre-planned.
So I find in this case that the aggravating factors do outweigh the mitigating factors,” Judge Gweon continued. The judge sentenced Wilson to two years of formal probation and 160 days in custody, with an option of Sheriff’s Work Project.
The final defendant to be sentenced was Isis Bolton, the only defendant who the victim claimed to know personally. Bolton was facing two felony charges of assault and burglary, pleading no contest to the assault in light of the plea deal. The burglary charge was subsequently dropped.
Bolton’s defense attorney, Param Pabla, argued Bolton should serve no time in-custody, pointing out that Bolton is only 19 years old and had no prior convictions. Unlike the other defendants, Bolton also made an effort to stay in constant contact with her probation officers.
Gong, however, noted that Bolton had allegedly harassed the victim’s family with several messages and smashed the windows of the victim’s car. She requested 180 days in custody.
“The court is going to impose time,” said Gweon. “If it wasn’t for Ms. Bolton’s involvement, this wouldn’t have happened. She’s the one with connection to the home, she was the one with connection to the victims.”
“Again, I am going to note, that there is definitely a sense I get from your client, as well as the other defendants, that there is no remorse or recognition or appreciation for what they did. There was a 13-year-old child who was assaulted and pepper-sprayed in his home and he is still traumatized. And a disabled victim. There’s just no appreciation of that, that I have received in either their demeanor or words,” Judge Gweon continued.
“I appreciate that Ms. Bolton did contact probation and did fill out the forms and followed the court’s orders. That indicates to me that she can be successful in probation,” Judge Gweon finished. Wilson was sentenced to two years of formal probation as well as 180 days in custody, with an option of Sheriff’s Work Project.
All three defendants were ordered to make restitution payments to the victim. The amount is yet to be determined.
Cailin Garcia is a senior at UCLA, majoring in sociology with a minor in professional writing. She is from Santa Clarita, California.
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