The killer of a buoyant Oakland baker, whose family urged him to avoid prison, has been sentenced to just seven years in prison.
20-year-old killer Ishmael Burch was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to manslaughter and robbery in the February 2023 death of 48-year-old baker and activist Jen Angel.
The victim’s family applauded the lenient sentence in a statement: “We know Jen would not want anyone involved in her death, complicit or not, to languish in prison for decades.”
Angel was killed when Burch and another man grabbed her purse. She chased their getaway car and was dragged more than 50 feet after becoming trapped in the car door.
Her head was crushed on the pavement and Burch, who was driving, fled the scene. Angel was in a coma for two days before she was pronounced dead.
Jennifer Angel, 48, was killed in February 2023 when she was dragged more than 50 feet by a car driven by robbers who stole her purse
Ishmael Burch, 20, was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to manslaughter and robbery in the Death Angel
Angel’s death made headlines last year after her family responded to the tragedy by calling for her killers not to be sentenced to prison.
Her family cited Angel’s “anarchist” beliefs about highly progressive social justice reforms and called on prosecutors to “pursue all available alternatives to traditional prosecution, such as restorative justice.”
“Jen was a longtime activist and anarchist in a social movement. She did not believe in state violence, prison sentences, or incarceration as effective or just solutions to social violence and inequality,” her family wrote in a GoFundMe at the time.
They added: “We know Jen does not want to continue the cycle of misery by using state-sanctioned violence against those involved in her death or against other members of Oakland’s wealthy community.”
The pleas paid off for Angel’s killer, as he received only seven years in prison for her death. This was part of a plea deal with prosecutors, which saw further murder and robbery charges dropped.
Angel left her car in front of a bank in downtown Oakland when two robbers smashed her car window and made off with her belongings
Angel was previously a journalist and activist, publishing “anarchist” magazines calling for criminal justice reform.
Angel in a photo with her fiancé Ocean Mottley
Burch’s attorney welcomed the “restorative justice conversation” following the verdict and said he was committed to honoring Angel’s memory after he serves his sentence.
“Ismael, his family and I are so pleased with the compassion and humanity that Jen Angel’s community and friends have shown toward Ismael,” his attorney said.
“We hope that the conversation about restorative justice continues within the Oakland community.”
On Friday, Angel’s family also spoke out to praise the measure, but said it doesn’t go far enough and that “more work needs to be done to realize Jen’s dream of a different and more just system.”
“We recognize that the state’s process is not the process Jen would have chosen to ensure accountability and justice,” the statement said.
‘We also believe that the sentence recommended by the Public Prosecution Service in this settlement is the best possible outcome within the current legal system and in this political climate.
“We know Jen doesn’t want anyone involved in her death, complicit or not, to languish in prison for decades. And we take comfort in the thought that Ishmael will have a chance to repair some of the damage he caused.”
Before starting her bakery, Angel was an editor for the left-wing magazine Clamor, worked for the influential punk rock magazine MaximumRocknRoll, and had her own magazine called F**ktooth.
After Angel’s killer was sentenced to seven years in prison, her family praised the verdict as ‘the best possible outcome under the current justice system’
Employees at her bakery, Angel Cakes Bakery, were also instructed to “never call the police,” Angel once boasted.
Emily Harris, a close friend of Angel’s and an “anti-prison warden,” told the San Francisco Chronicle that the statement fits in with her radical liberal principles.
“I think Jen would attest to the fact that of course that’s what people have been trained to believe is the answer, to lock people up,” Harris said. “But we know that when the people who harm her are sent to prison, we’re only perpetuating more harm.”
It appears the family has done its best to ensure that Angel’s killer doesn’t go to prison, thanks to a directive from Oakland District Attorney Pamela Price.
Price, who was criticized by conservatives for her soft approach to policing, released a memo shortly before Angel’s death in which she said she hoped to reduce recidivism by imposing tougher sentences.
The prosecutor’s guidelines also stated that probation should be the “presumed offer” in plea negotiations.