A teen killer whose light sentence was a lightning rod in efforts to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has been charged with armed robbery after being released early from juvenile detention.
Jalen Amir Yoakum, 23, was arrested this month along with two other suspects and charged with wielding a stolen gun in the theft of Rolex watches, according to an internal LAPD memo shared by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin.
In September 2017, Yoakum was 17 when he was charged with the murder of 40-year-old Ontario Courtney, who police believe was an innocent motorist who was mistaken for a rival gang member after his car broke down.
Yoakum was charged as an adult in the case, with prosecutors citing his social media posts from behind bars boasting about his gang affiliation with the Main Street Mafia Crips, as well as videos of him “practicing” drive-by shootings with a paintball gun .
But after Gascón took office in late 2020, the prosecutor banned the prosecution of juveniles as adults and transferred Yoakum’s case to juvenile court, also dropping all gang and gun charges against him.
Yoakum pleaded guilty to murder, but because he was charged as a minor, he was due to be released by the time he turned 25 in 2025, and was apparently released early for reasons that are unclear.
Jalen Amir Yoakum, 23, (center) was arrested this month and charged with wielding a stolen gun in the theft of Rolex watches, according to this internal LAPD memo shared by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin
Yoakum’s previous light sentence for murder was a lightning rod in failed attempts to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón
The case became a lightning rod in the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recall Gascón, with the recall committee posting on social media: “Violent criminals like Jalen Yoakum know that George Gascón is their biggest advocate.”
Gascón, a progressive prosecutor who has pushed for increased leniency and rehabilitation of criminal offenders, made banning adult charges against minors a signature part of his reforms.
“We have ended the practice of persecuting children as adults,” Gascón said in 2021, discussing the achievements of his first 100 days in office. “Since we took office, we have withdrawn 77 pending motions to transfer children to adult court.”
Now Yoakum’s latest arrest could provide a new line of attack for Gascón’s critics as he seeks re-election in November.
According to the LAPD documents shared by Melugin, Yoakum along with two other suspects, James Garrett and Charles Emmerson, were arrested in connection with an Aug. 2 armed robbery of a Rolex watch near the intersection of Beverly Boulevard and Harper Avenue.
Police linked the suspects to the crime through a white Infiniti Q50 seen at the scene that Emmerson is said to be the registered owner of.
All three suspects were charged with theft and Yoakum was additionally charged with possession of a stolen and loaded firearm.
Yoakum (left) was 17 when he was charged with the murder of 40-year-old Ontario Courtney (right), an innocent man who was mistaken for a rival gang member after his car broke down
After his 2017 arrest, Yoakum continued to boast about his ties to the Main Street Mafia Crips in social media posts from behind bars, prosecutors said
Yoakum, right, regularly posted to social media from juvenile detention, bragging about his gang membership, prosecutors say
County records confirm that Yoakum was arrested Aug. 9 in the Wilshire Division and charged with felony misdemeanor.
He is being held without bail in Men’s Central. It was unclear if he had a lawyer to speak on his behalf, and he is due to appear in court on Thursday.
The Los Angeles Attorney General did not immediately return a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Saturday.
Two years ago, Fox 11 reported that murder victim Courtney’s family was furious that Yoakum had been transferred to the juvenile system.
“If you want to go out and act like a man and shoot and kill people, that’s how you should be treated,” Allyson Ostrowski, a lawyer for the family, told the outlet.
“For Mr. Yoakum, you’ve been in the criminal justice system since you were 12 years old and you’ve offered service after service, program after program, and you have not taken it up,” Ostrowski said.
“You just stay part of the gang, that makes you one of the people who should be tried as an adult.”
Before Gascon took office, the former district attorney cited these photos of Yoakum posing with guns as she charged him with Courtney’s murder as an adult
Social media photos of the Main Street Mafia Crips show their boast of being “Hoover Killers,” referring to the rival crew that controlled the South Hoover Street area in the Broadway-Manchester area of South Los Angeles
Courtney was driving on South Hoover Street, an area controlled by the Hoover street gang, when his car broke down on September 13, 2017.
He was waiting for a tow truck when he was attacked by mobsters from Yoakum’s Main Street Mafia Crips set, who believed him to be a member of the rival Hoovers.
Courtney was shot 36 times and did not survive.
His relatives say he had absolutely nothing to do with street gangs and was involved in a case of mistaken identity.
“My brother had no gang ties,” Aja Courtney, Ontario Courtney’s younger sister, told the local Fox chapter. “I can’t even put into words how much I miss him.”