For the first time in Santa Barbara County’s history, a Superior Court judge concluded that the District Attorney’s Office broke a state mandate designed to root out racial discrimination in judicial settings.
In mid-August, a hearing to determine former Santa Maria resident and convicted felon Kevin Wayne Burgess’ sentence in a domestic violence case ended with a 12-year state prison sentence—against the prosecution’s recommendation for life imprisonment.
That recommendation didn’t align with sentences for Burgess’ “white counterparts” found guilty of crimes mirroring his offenses, in the view of Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy Public Defender Erica Sutherland.
While referencing county data collected over the past six years, Sutherland argued in Santa Maria Superior Court that when the District Attorney’s Office has “the option to punish more harshly, they do so disproportionately against people of color,” including her Black client.
“Whether intentionally or not, the prosecution seeks to impose a harsher sentence on Mr. Burgess based on race,” Sutherland stated in court documents, “despite the facts of his case being far less egregious than many other cases filed since 2020 that are also eligible for third-strike sentencing.”
Under California’s Three Strikes Law, repeat offenders with two previous convictions for violent or serious felonies could face life in prison if found guilty of a third.
Burgess’ felony convictions in 2010 and 2020 made him eligible, the prosecution asserted, for life imprisonment after his Aug. 17 sentencing.
But Judge Denise Hippach agreed with Sutherland that the District Attorney’s Office violated the California Racial Justice Act, first enacted in 2020.
“The Racial Justice Act permits a judge to ‘strike a strike’—which means that the judge can treat one of the prior convictions for a serious and/or violent felony as though it did not exist,” Assistant District Attorney Jenn Karapetian told the Sun via email.
“This is what happened here,” Karapetian explained.
She said it was “the first such finding under the Racial Justice Act here in Santa Barbara County.”
“The decision to seek a life-imprisonment sentence under the Three Strikes Law is not one the District Attorney’s Office takes lightly,” Karapetian said. “Given the individual considerations specific to Mr. Burgess, [the prosecution] believed a third-strike sentence was appropriately sought.”
Hippach’s 12-year prison sentence for Burgess in August followed his guilty verdict in October 2025 for counts of corporal injury to a spouse, domestic battery, attempted criminal threats, false imprisonment, and violating criminal protective orders.
“Mr. Burgess strangled his wife and threatened to burn down the house. When his wife attempted to leave the home, Mr. Burgess prevented her from doing so,” Karapetian said. “At the time of his crime in 2025, [he] had previously served multiple prison terms and had repeatedly violated both probation and parole.”
Sutherland cited examples of county criminal proceedings where white defendants with similar charges received “more lenient offers” from the District Attorney’s Office, while Burgess never received a plea bargain.
Lompoc resident Brian Austin Tucker, for instance, was convicted of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse, false imprisonment and other charges in 2023.
“During the charged incident, Mr. Tucker strangled, punched, and threw his victim for several hours while repeatedly threatening, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ and, ‘Beg God to save your life,’” Sutherland stated in court documents. “He broke her nose and inflicted lacerations and bruises. … Police documented blood splatter throughout their bedroom, hallway, and bathroom.”
Although Tucker’s criminal convictions in 1992 and 1994 made him eligible for a third-strike sentence in 2023, the District Attorney’s Office instead offered Tucker a plea deal for an eight-year prison sentence, Sutherland stated.
Sutherland listed around a dozen white convicts in Santa Barbara County eligible for third-strike sentences in cases stemming from as early as May 2020. Each was offered a plea deal, with prison sentences ranging from eight to 26 years.
“The prosecution did not extend any [plea] offer to Mr. Burgess. This indicates that the District Attorney’s Office always sought a life sentence,” Sutherland wrote. “He did not receive the benefit of resolving his case with a mitigated sentence, unlike similarly situated white defendants.”
Of the data that the District Attorney’s Office disclosed to Sutherland, there were only two Black defendants eligible for third-strike life sentences between the spring of 2020 and the spring of 2026. But neither shared charges similar to Burgess.
One defendant was tried for murder and received a life sentence, while the other pled guilty to robbery for a 10-year prison sentence.
“Due to the low number of Black defendants, … this data is very limited,” Sutherland stated. “The data for white defendants charged with a third-strike allegation is more extensive. … Every single [one] whose case was eligible for a life sentence resolved with a plea agreement, … even when the convictions included attempted murder or inflicting bodily injury.”
In her argument to the court, Sutherland stated that four individuals in Santa Barbara County have received life sentences under the Three Strikes Law since May 2020: one Black individual and three Hispanic individuals.
“This data reveals that only people of color are sentenced to life in Santa Barbara County for suffering third strikes,” Sutherland wrote in court documents filed in April.
“Drawing conclusions based on small sample size comes with inherent problems,” Assistant District Attorney Karapetian said via email.
“Although we disagree with the court’s finding with respect to the Racial Justice Act,” Karapetian said, “we are committed to reducing the potential for unconscious bias affecting decision-making in the criminal justice system.
“For example, our office employs race-blind charging practices,” Karapetian explained. “In most cases, the deputy district attorney making the initial filing decision does not have access to information identifying the defendant’s race, reducing the possibility that race could influence an initial charging decision.”
County Office of the Public Defender Chief Trial Deputy Adrian Galvan described the court’s recent determination in Burgess’ case as representing how Racial Justice Act enforcement can lead to “real and consequential relief for a real person.”
“Judge Hippach’s ruling demonstrates that the Racial Justice Act has real force. It is not merely a statement of values of an abstract policy,” Galvan said in an email interview. “The defense presented evidence drawn from the district attorney’s own data and established a measurable disparity in how similarly situated defendants were treated.
“In this case,” Galvan continued, “that work made the difference between a life sentence and a sentence that gives Mr. Burgess the possibility of one day returning to his community.”
Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in September 3 – September 10, 2026.
