The former classmate suspected of killing 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein, whose body was found in a shallow grave in Borrego Park, has pleaded not guilty in connection with the homicide.

Samuel Woodward, who has been charged with murder in the death of Blaze Bernstein, is seen during a court appearance on Jan. 17, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

Samuel Lincoln Woodward, 20 was charged Jan. 17 with murder in the stabbing death of Bernstein, a pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania who was visiting his parents in Lake Forest for winter break when he was killed.

Woodward entered his plea during an arraignment on Friday. His bail was set at $5 million.

Woodward allegedly drove Bernstein to Borrego Park on Jan. 2 before stabbing him multiple times and then burying his body in a shallow grave in the park's dirt perimeter.

Bernstein was reported missing by his parents the next day, but his body wasn't discovered until a week later.

DNA evidence found at the crime scene and in Woodward's vehicle led to his arrest on Jan. 12.

He was ordered to be held without bail when he was charged.

Blaze Bernstein is seen in a photo released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Woodward and Bernstein both previously attended the Orange County High School of the Arts in Santa Ana.

During an interview with investigators about the night Bernstein disappeared, Woodward said the 19-year-old, who was openly gay, had kissed him on the lips, prompting Woodward to push him away.

The investigators noted that Woodward had clenched his jaw and fists while recounting the story.

ProPublica last week reported that Woodward belonged to a neo-Nazi group.

Bernstein's parents believe their son, who was found with more than 20 stab wounds, may have been the victim of a hate crime.

Authorities have not announced a motive in the case.

During a news conference Friday morning, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas discussed how sexual orientation and gender are not protected under the special circumstance allegations for murder.

He explained that a bill in the California Senate calls for the LGBTQ community to be included in the special allegations enhancements, though it would have no impact in the Bernstein case and Woodward would not qualify for the death penalty.

“If the sexual orientation of a victim is a substantial factor in the defendant's intent to murder, then he or she should be subjected to the punishment of life without the possibility of parole or the possibility of the death penalty,"  Rackauckas said Friday. "It’s time now that California places members of the LGBTQ community as a protected class of victims of special circumstance murder.”

A Southwest Airlines flight was departing for San Jose from John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana when a fire was reported aboard the plane on Monday night, an airport spokeswoman said.

The fire — which has since been put out — broke out on Southwest flight #2123, causing its emergency chutes to deploy, according to the airport. Evacuations slides were used to remove passengers and crew members from the plane, the airline said.

The plane carrying Southwest Airlines flight #2123 had a fire break out before takeoff at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana on Feb. 12, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

It was reported at about 7:30 p.m., Deanne Thompson, an airport spokeswoman, said.

"A few minor injuries" were reported by the airport in a tweet, although officials have not released further information about those — only saying no one was taken to a hospital for treatment.

No serious injuries were reported, according to a statement from Southwest Airlines.

The flight was carrying 139 passengers and 5 crew members, airport officials tweeted. An hour after the fire was first reported, Southwest Airlines was still working on getting those passengers onto other flights the same night, Thompson said.

However, as baggage for each passenger has to now be transferred onto other planes, Southwest has no exact time frame for when people would be ensured a replacement flight, she said.

In a statement, the airline said its employees in Orange County were "working diligently" to make accommodations for passengers.

"We regret any inconvenience the event has caused," the airline statement read.

John Wayne Airport tweeted that the fire had been put out just before 8:00 p.m.

At the time the fire broke out, the plane was pushing back from the gate, Thompson said. It was located in the auxiliary power unit, which is a small engine in the rear of the plane.

Soon after the fire was reported, the airline crew decided to evacuate passengers from the plane, the airport said in tweet.

By 8:35 p.m., the airport tweeted that operations across its facility were "back to normal."

A 1-year-old boy who was found unresponsive at a Santa Ana motel on Monday has died, and his mother's boyfriend has been arrested on suspicion of child abuse, police said Tuesday.

Santa Ana police released this booking photo of Eduardo Centeno.

Officers were dispatched to the Royal Roman Motel, located at 1504 E. First St., shortly before 8 a.m. Monday after receiving a report of a baby not breathing, according to a Santa Ana Police Department news release.

The child was unresponsive when officers arrived, and they performed CPR on the young boy, the release stated. Paramedics arrived and took the child to Orange County Global Medical Center before he was transported to Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna confirmed early Tuesday afternoon that the boy had died. Before his death, police said he was in critical condition and had been placed on life-support.

Officials have not identified the victim, and a cause of death has yet to be released pending an autopsy. However, investigators believe that he died of injuries he received the day before, according to Bertagna.

The boy's death is now being investigated as a homicide.

"There will be an autopsy, because it is a murder investigation, that will tell the detectives a lot of information, whether the injuries that they believe the victim received yesterday – how many of those were from yesterday, was there any long-term abuse?" Bertagna said. "Those are all things that an autopsy can provide homicide detectives."

An initial investigation uncovered evidence of possible child neglect and/or abuse, according to police.

Detectives questioned the victim's mother and her boyfriend, 25-year-old Eduardo Centeno. Prior to the child dying, he was arrested and booked into Santa Ana jail on suspicion of child abuse as well as two outstanding warrants for narcotics violations.

It was not immediately known whether he would face additional charges.

Centero was alone with the little boy at the motel, where the three lived, while his girlfriend went to work that day, Bertagna said. The mother was not at the scene when first responders arrived.

She has been released amid the ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information is urged to call Santa Ana Detective Eddie Nunez at 714-245-8390.

KTLA's Jennifer Thang contributed to this story. 

Authorities sought the public's help Wednesday in identifying a man seen on surveillance video robbing a woman at gunpoint inside a Santa Ana massage parlor.

A man suspected of robbing a woman at gunpoint inside a Santa Ana massage parlor is seen in a video released by Santa Ana police on Feb. 14, 2018.

The incident happened around 10:53 p.m. Monday at So Relax Day Spa on West McFadden Avenue, according to Santa Ana police.

The assailant was a customer who received two massages before returning for a third time saying he was looking for his phone, the massage parlor's owner, Yuneng Wong, told KTLA.

The Police Department released footage from inside the massage parlor, showing a man striking Wong on the head with a handgun multiple times, pulling the woman's hair and strangling her. The victim said the man fled the business after she gave him $250.

Wong, who sustained substantial injuries on her head, said she reported the incident to authorities soon after.

Police described the assailant as a Hispanic man between 22 to 28 years old, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing around 160 pounds. He's believed to have short black hair, a medium complexion and a tattoo on his right forearm.

The surveillance video shows the man wearing a black t-shirt, gray sweatpants and black shoes with white soles. Police said he fled in a  red Toyota Camry.

Anyone with information can call 714-245-8362, email DGreaver@santa-ana.org or contact Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS.

A crowd of homeless people, wearing hoodies and woolen hats in the morning cold, lined up along the Santa Ana River trail early Tuesday to collect motel vouchers before having to leave Orange County's largest homeless camp.

As they inched forward to an area manned by county officials, workers tried to answer questions and took notes to steer people like Michael Parenteau, 67, who has lived on the streets for 15 years, to services including housing, healthcare and transportation.

"I'm ready. This is my one chance if I want to get my life in order and get back on my feet," Parenteau said.

The retired carpenter clutched a rope as he led his terrier mix, Frankie, to join the waiting throng.

Read the full story on LATimes.com. 

A woman was arrested Wednesday after she allegedly tried to kidnap a 12-year-old girl who was on her way to school in Santa Ana, and another woman is being hailed a hero for thwarting the attack, police said.

Claudia Hernandez Diaz is shown in a photo released by the Santa Ana Police Department on Feb. 21, 2018.

Amy Martinez was on her way to Lathrop Intermediate School when she was confronted by a woman who was described as homeless.

"She just came up to me and went like this," Amy said, simulating a bear-hug. “And then she started walking with me away.”

Amy said she screamed for help. "She told me in Spanish not to cry, but I wasn’t even crying," she said.

That's when a good Samaritan who had just dropped off her child at school, saw what was going on and quickly devised a plan to stop the suspect, Cpl. Anthony Bertagna told KTLA.

The woman told the suspect that she was Amy's mother and told her to let the girl go.

The woman then took Amy to school.  Police eventually responded and the suspect, Claudia Hernandez Diaz, was taken into custody.

Amy said she considers the woman who came to her aid a hero who saved her life.

"I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh, I'm going to live,'" the girl said.

A man wanted for assaulting an officer was arrested in Irvine Monday after a K-9 helped police end an erratic pursuit that involved multiple collisions and a carjacking, authorities said.

Paramedics treat a man identified as Antonio Padilla Jr. after police and a K-9 apprehended him in Irvine after a pursuit on Feb. 26, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

Antonio Padilla Jr., 37, is suspected of attempting to run over an officer during a traffic stop the afternoon of Feb. 18, according to the Garden Grove Police Department.

The officer had pulled him over at a parking lot for expired tags, Lt. Carl Whitney said. As she was writing a citation, Padilla allegedly tried to hit her with his truck.

"She had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit by the suspect," Whitney said.

Whitney said the officer pulled out her weapon but didn't fire, and Padilla was able to get away.

On Monday, the suspect was reported being sighted in Santa Ana. At around 5:30 p.m., Garden Grove police sent undercover officers to the scene and asked Santa Ana police for assistance, according to authorities.

Padilla fled when officers approached his 2016 GMC Sierra near 1300 South Ross Street, authorities said. Officers lost sight of his truck due to traffic, police said, but an aerial unit later spotted it near the 55 Freeway.

A pursuit ensued from the 55 to the 405 Freeway, during which Padilla hit multiple vehicles, according to authorities. Padilla came to a dead end on Rosa Drew Lane in Irvine, where he got out of his truck and pulled a woman out of her SUV, police said.

The woman's brother tried to intervene, according to a statement from Irvine police, but Padilla was able to take the SUV. Neither victim sustained any injuries, the news release said.

Padilla drove away in the SUV, which shortly lost its tires near Kaiser and Gillette avenues, police said. Padilla started running, but officers were able to apprehend him at around 6 p.m. with help from a police dog.

"Padilla could not outrun the K-9," a statement from Garden Grove police said.

A police dog named Puskas is examined after the animal helped officers apprehend a man who led them on a pursuit from Santa Ana to Irvine on Feb. 26, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

The handler of the dog believed the animal, named Puskas, broke a couple of teeth while tackling Padilla. Police said Puskas was examined but did not provide further details about the K-9's condition.

Authorities said Padilla was taken to a hospital, where he was treated. They later booked him at an Orange County jail for numerous felonies, Garden Grove police said in a statement.

Padilla, a parolee on early release, had been previously jailed on a domestic violence charge, Whitney said.

Garden Grove police will handle the assault incident while authorities in Irvine will take charge of the carjacking investigation. California Highway Patrol will oversee a crash that occurred on the 405 during the pursuit.

KTLA's Nidia Becerra, Chip Yost and Matt Phillips contributed to this report.

The gates were locked and the Santa Ana River trail was quiet Monday night after a massive push, spanning six days, to relocate more than 700 people to motels and shelters across Orange County.

“This was a landmark process with so many different groups combining forces,” said Brooke Weitzman, an attorney who sued Orange County on behalf of seven homeless people, alleging that officials’ goal to empty the tent city last month violated her clients’ civil rights.

Weitzman and county representatives agreed to a stipulation that allowed clearing of the encampment, with guidance from U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, who toured the site and demanded that government and social services staff work with residents in a “humane way.”

The attorney said that no one was arrested during the process.

Read the full story on LATimes.com. 

A K-9 with the Santa Ana Police Department was released from the hospital Tuesday night following surgery on his jaw after losing six teeth — an injury sustained after he managed to take down a suspect involved in lengthy, chaotic pursuit the day before.

The dog, a Dutch Shepherd named Puskas, appeared "loopy" coming out of surgery at VCA Yorba Regional Animal Hospital in Anaheim but was recovering well, according to his handler, Officer Luis Galeana. The police pooch was discharged from the facility hours later.

“He’s going to get a lot of pampering, a lot of rubs on his back and his belly,” Galeana said.

Galeana was with Puskas the day before, when the dog ran after a man wanted on suspicion of assaulting an officer following a pursuit in which the man allegedly carjacked someone while authorities were on the chase, officials said.

Puskas managed to outrun and pin down Antonio Padilla Jr., 37,  who is accused of attempting to hit a female officer with his truck during a traffic stop, triggering the police chase, authorities said.

"He was running at full speed. He can probably pick up 25 to 30 mph at full speed," Galeana said of the police dog.

"And when he launched at the suspect, that momentum pushed them, dropped them both back," he said of the dog and Padilla. "And [Puskas] was near the curb when he fell back. I think that’s when he hit the … curb and injured himself."

That impact is believed to be the cause of multiple mouth injuries.

"He came in with fractured teeth down to the gum line and a laceration in the gum," said Dr. Steve Dunbar of Yorba Regional Animal Hospital.

But the veterinarian said the six upper front teeth lost by Puskas shouldn't be enough to stop him from eating, biting or working as other back teeth can serve those purposes sufficiently.

"We’ll have to wait and see how he responds to treatment and recovery, but he seems to be doing fairly well at this point," Dunbar said.

For now, the dog is still recuperating, Galeana said, describing the first moments he met up with Puskas following surgery.

"It was a very good feeling. My dog was super happy when he saw me," he said. "He’s still kinda loopy, but he was able to get up on his four legs and kinda lick my face a little bit."

The dog, a five-year veteran of the force, has already been awarded a Purple Heart for bravery for his efforts on Monday.

Galeana said he's confident the K-9 will make a full recovery, having already survived and rattlesnake bite and breaking his jaw during training.

Puskas is expected to return to work in about a month.

A woman whose body was found Wednesday in brush at Talbert Regional Park in Costa Mesa was identified as Ashley Boulay, 29, police said Friday.

Daniel Correa is shown in a photo released by the Costa Mesa Police Department on Feb. 28, 2018.

Daniel Correa, 24, who was arrested in connection with her death, was charged with murder Thursday.

Boulay and Correa were both described as transients. Authorities said Boulay previously lived in Massachusetts, Correa in Santa Ana.

The Orange County district attorney’s office alleges that Correa killed Boulay with a tree branch at the nature preserve on Victoria Street.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

A man was taken into custody by Orange County sheriff’s deputies Tuesday afternoon following a pursuit in which he fled in a U-Haul truck, driving “erratically” in a chase involving two collisions before allegedly barricading himself inside a home in Santa Ana, O.C. Sheriff’s Department officials said.

The man — described by authorities as white and in his 30s — allegedly led sheriff’s deputies on a chase beginning around 12:15 p.m. and extending from San Clemente to Santa Ana, where they say he barricaded himself inside a home. After calling in SWAT officers, authorities were eventually able to apprehend the man after he was bitten by a K-9 unit, officials said about three and a half hours after the chase began.

A man is seen being taken into custody after a pursuit extending from San Clemente to Santa Ana on March 6, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

The pursuit started when the man was allegedly driving a motorcycle — which was later found to be stolen — in the area of El Portal and North El Camino Real in San Clemente, authorities said. Sheriff’s deputies tried pulling him over but he handed them a license, which they’re still not sure is fake or real, and then fled on foot.

After that, authorities said, the man somehow got into a U-Haul truck and drove away. It is unclear whether he had rented the vehicle or not.

Sheriff’s deputies chased him along the northbound 5 Freeway in Dana Point to the 73 Freeway before switching onto the 55 Freeway, officials said. From there, he exited the freeway in Costa Mesa and started driving “erratically” — getting into two different crashes before he got out of the truck somewhere in Santa Ana, officials said in a tweet.

Sgt. Brian Sims described the chase as “extremely dangerous” and said the man’s actions were “putting peoples’ lives in jeopardy and causing traffic collisions.”

The chase got so dangerous, according to law enforcement officials, that at some point they decided to stop pursuing him on the ground and had a helicopter track him.

Some time later, while he was on foot in Santa Ana, the man went inside a home located in the 1800 block of West St. Anne Place, officials said. Santa Ana police and SWAT officers were then also dispatched to the scene to assist deputies in getting him out.

Eventually, a police dog was released into the home and found the man hiding under a mattress, officials said. The K-9 bit the man a few times before he was taken into custody.

The man will be interviewed and looked at by medical professionals and his identity is expected to be released once he is booked at Orange County Jail, sheriff’s deputies tweeted.

No further information has been released by the O.C. Sheriff’s Department.

An investigation is underway Monday after a suspected burglar died in police custody Sunday night.

A suspected burglar died in police custody Sunday night in Santa Ana. (Credit: OnScene.TV)

Authorities were called to Santa Ana Liquor in the 2400 block of West 1st Street on a burglary in progress report at about 9:30 p.m., Santa Ana Police Department Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Officers located a man who matched the description in the report, but he fled the area on foot, Bertagna said.

When the officers caught up with him, an altercation ensued and the man was eventually taken into custody, Bertagna said.

Once in custody, the man began complaining of shortness of breath and was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No further details on the incident were immediately available.

Authorities have not identified the man who died.

A man suspected of assaulting his mother with a knife in a Santa Ana apartment was taken into custody Wednesday after a three-hour standoff with police, authorities said.

Santa Ana police reported receiving a call at 3 p.m. about an individual attacking his mother with a large knife in the area of 811 S. Fairview St. The man allegedly grabbed her by the throat and placed the knife to her neck.

Authorities said they managed to get the mother out, but the son ran and barricaded himself into a bathroom. Police tried to convince him to come out, during which the man hurled a knife and a laptop toward them, Officer Anthony Bertagna said.

Adjacent apartments were evacuated.

In a tweet at 4:46 p.m., Santa Ana police asked the public to avoid the area. About an hour later, the department said all lanes of Fairview Street from McFadden Avenue to Willits Street were closed.

Bertagna said police dogs were deployed and officers were able to take the suspect into custody shortly after 6 p.m. All lanes reopened soon after.

The Police Department posted images of paramedics taking the suspect into an ambulance.

Authorities provided no further information.

After a rare federal court hearing Saturday, Orange County officials agreed to extend motel stays “on a case-by-case basis” to homeless people removed from camps along the Santa Ana River while working to prevent the mass evictions from worsening the homeless crisis at the Santa Ana Civic Center.

The daylong hearing and negotiations marked the latest chapter of an extraordinary effort by officials, homeless advocates and a federal judge to improve the lot of the growing homeless population in one of America’s most affluent counties.

Andrew Do, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, announced what he called the “big concession” at about 5 p.m., after more than five hours of meetings between attorneys for the homeless and county staff. “This is not a blanket extension,” he warned, adding that starting next week, officials will help transition up to 100 people a day from motels to their next stop.

Do scheduled a special supervisors meeting on Monday to discuss using county land and sites available for shelter.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Just a few days ago, Orange County appeared to have a grand plan to deal with its swelling homeless population.

A cyclist passes trash from the Santa Ana River homeless camp in Anaheim in February after it was cleared and more than 700 people relocated. (Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The idea was to move hundreds of people being evicted from camps along the Santa Ana River into motels and eventually into three temporary shelters in Huntington Beach, Irvine and Laguna Niguel, marking the county's most concrete effort yet to find housing for the unsheltered.

But the plan is now in serious jeopardy after those three communities vowed to do whatever it takes to keep the shelters out. Leaders in Irvine and Laguna Niguel voted to sue the county to block the shelter plan, and local officials want to drop the Huntington Beach location.

Now the county is scrambling to find a solution. Officials have pushed the homeless out of encampments because of complaints from nearby residents. But the county's existing homeless shelters are already at capacity, and a federal judge has demanded that local governments find places for the evicted people to live.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has never been a darling of the NRA. He accused the organization of trying to incite violence through a recruiting video last year and was the force behind 2016’s Proposition 63, a voter-approved gun control initiative that requires background checks for ammunition, among other restrictions.

California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at the United Voices Rally outside the United Talent Agency in Beverly Hills on Feb. 24, 2017. (Credit: KYLE GRILLOT/AFP/Getty Images)

Newsom, who is running for governor, highlighted his record Saturday afternoon as he spoke to protesters at the March for Our Lives in Santa Ana.

“We changed the trajectory of the debate, not just in this state but all across the rest of the country,” Newsom said of the state’s laws. “Gun control saves lives!”

Newsom touted Proposition 63, which he proposed and campaigned for, as California’s answer to the NRA’s sway over federal gun policy. “Instead of booing, instead of complaining, you decided to step up and step in and we passed Proposition 63,” he told the crowd, which cheered loudly and waved signs decrying gun violence. “You said, ‘Enough!’ You said, ‘We will be the example.’”

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

Authorities on Monday were beginning the process of evicting hundreds of homeless people from an encampment by the Santa Ana Civic Center. Dave Mecham reports from Santa Ana for the KTLA 5 News at 1 on April 2, 2018.

The City of Santa Ana is preparing Tuesday to clear a homeless encampment at the Civic Center. Sara Welch reports for the KTLA 5 Morning News on April 3, 2018.

The convicted child molester whose original sentencing — shorter than what is required by state law — provoked public backlash was resentenced to the mandatory minimum of 25 years to life in state prison on Friday.

Kevin Rojano-Nieto, 23, was facing a maximum of 33 years to life when he was found guilty of sodomizing a 3-year-old relative in Santa Ana in 2014, when he was 19 years old. But Judge M. Marc Kelly said that sentence would be "cruel and unusual punishment" given the circumstances of the case.

Kevin Rojano-Nieto appears in court in Newport Beach for his resentencing on April 6, 2018. (Credit: KTLA)

In reversing Nieto's 10-year sentence, a court of appeals found the trial judge ignored vital evidence about the scope of Nieto's actions, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said in a news relase. DA's officials also characterized the previous sentence as "illegal" and said Nieto was unable to prove that the minimum sentence was grossly disproportionate to his crime.

Prosectors say that Nieto was in a detached garage playing video games when his young family member walked in, and Nieto became sexually aroused. He then locked the door and sexually assaulted her, covering her mouth so her mother could not find her.

After the girl was freed, she told her mother she was in pain, and a medical exam revealed injuries consistent with assault, including lacerations on her anus, officials said.

The DA's office, which appealed the original sentence, calls it an "obviously a heinous crime."

But Judge Kelly had originally found that "Mr. Rojano did not seek out or stalk (the victim). He was playing video games and she wandered into the garage. He inexplicably became sexually aroused but did not appear to consciously intend to harm (the victim)…"

He said that though he found Nieto's actions "serious and despicable," he did not find the man to be "a pedophiliac child predator (who) preys on an innocent child." He also noted that an independently appointed psychologist found that Rojano posed a low risk for recidivism.

Three Orange County supervisors called for judge's resignation and threatened a recall campaign. An online petition on Change.org and a Facebook page were also set up calling for Kelly to step down following the decision. But Kelly's name still appears on the California court system's judges roster.

In Friday's ruling, the appeals court found Kelly minimized the severity of the crime by "characterizing it as happening ‘in an instant’ and stopping ‘within seconds’ when Rojano ‘realized the wrongfulness of his act.’"

Kevin Jonas Rojano-Nieto is shown in a booking photo distributed by the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Nieto originally denied committing the crime, first to the victim's family and then to police, prosecutors said.

Court documents obtained by KTLA in 2015 revealed Kelly's decision may have been influenced by the wishes of the 3-year-old victim's parents. A victim impact statement submitted by her father argued that Nieto "understands the gravity of his actions and that he laments his mistakes," and had endured childhood trauma himself.

"He requires rehabilitation that focuses on psychological healing as a preventive measure, and not solely on retribution," the statement read.

Family members spoke again in court on Friday, and his mother Maria Rojano said she forgave him.

“He was always my perfect little boy. Always his clothes organized, room organized, ‘yes ma’am,’ ‘I love you mom,’ and something happened,” she said.

But during the appeal process, Nieto was unable to prove there were circumstances that made a reduction of the sentence required by state law reasonable.

“There is no credible evidence that Rojano-Nieto did not have callous disregard for, nor lacked the intent to harm three-year-old Jane Doe when he sodomized and molested her; neither is it relevant to the inquiry," the DA's office said in a brief. "Moreover, there is no evidence supporting the trial court’s finding that Jane Doe was not harmed by the serious and violent assaults the defendant committed on her."

Nieto has already spent 1,404 days — nearly four years — in jail, meaning he will be eligible for parole in about 21 years. When and if he does apply, the parole board will have plenty of information to evaluate, Deputy District Attorney Whitney Bokosky told KTLA.

"The defense was very diligent in gathering all the information from his past, his school records, of the alleged abuse — all that," she said. "So the parole board will be educated when they do make that decision."

Nieto has 60 days to appeal Friday's ruling, but Bokosky said he appeared to be coming to terms with his sentence.

"It’s a case that’s hit all of us, emotionally, pretty hard, but I think he did know that he did have to give the 25 to life," she said.

California Highway Patrol officers helped out a Santa Ana boy who donated to their toy drive despite having disadvantages of his own. Ellina Abovian reports for the KTLA 5 News at 5 on April 13, 2018.