The Placer County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday that the Placer County Superior Court denied the petition for resentencing of Brandon Fernandez. This ruling comes after the completion of a second resentencing hearing on a petition filed by Brandon Fernandez asking the court to vacate his sentence for the murder of Justine Vanderschoot. Granting of the petition would have resulted in his release back into Placer County.
Justine Vanderschoot was only 17 when she was brutally murdered by her then boyfriend, Daniel Bezemer and his friend Brandon Fernandez on Labor Day Weekend in September of 2003.
Her remains were found in a shallow grave off Boole Lane in rural Placer County. There was evidence that she was still alive when buried.
Fernandez and Bezemer were arrested and charged with her murder. Bezemer received a sentence of 25-years-to-life in prison and Fernandez received a sentence of 15 years to life. Both murderers have faced mutltiple parole hearings and most failed. Unfortunately, due to an obscure law, Fernandez’ last hearing was tossed and the Vanderschoot family, Don, Lynette and daughter Christine, had to endure another hearing – once again facing a murderer.
The court found August 1, that “based on the evidence presented during the course of the hearing, the People proved the defendant Fernandez was indeed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of planning and assisting co-defendant Daniel Bezemer in the brutal murder of 17-year-old Justine Vanderschoot, according to the Placer County DA’s office.
“We are deeply grateful to the DA’s office, our loved ones and the community, who have stayed by our side even decades later,” said Don, Lynnette and Christine Vanderschoot. “With that said, we hope this hearing is a reminder to our state Legislature of the pain their laws are inflicting on everyday residents. We ask, what kind of message are we sending to our young women – that someone can plan, scheme and execute a horrific murder against a teenage girl and be eligible for legal relief? Violence against women should never be tolerated and we hope our politicians will listen to the experts next time when drafting these misguided reform laws. While we are happy with today’s result, we also wish this continued trauma on no other family.”
“The court commented on the fact that both defendants in this case demonstrated considerable and constant fabrication of their stories from the beginning and throughout the post-conviction proceedings. The court further noted that notwithstanding the defendants’ self-serving statements, independent evidence made clear that Fernandez was an accomplice to this murder from the beginning,” the DA’s office said.
The court found it significant that Fernandez’ detailed knowledge of the location of Justine’s grave, his participation in the digging of the grave in advance, and his changing of his vehicle’s tires immediately after the murder – all showed advance planning of this callous murder.
The court further acknowledged that changes by the legislature such as this create hardships and show a lack of regard for the victim’s family members and friends who have to endure the hearing process and relive the horrific moments decades later. Being bound by law, the court evaluated all the evidence and found that Fernandez acted with an intent to kill and demonstrated a reckless indifference to human life.
Fernandez pled guilty to murder in 2005 and this case continues to affect the Placer County community 20 years later.
This is the seventh time the Vanderschoot family has had to come to a hearing to face their daughter’s murderers in the last seven years. They have described the pain that every hearing brings as “ripping off a band aid” when they have to hear the details of this unimaginable crime over and over again.
The petition process was made possible by Senate Bill 1437 which was signed into law in 2018 and provides a process for those convicted of murder to petition for re-sentencing and release if they assert that they were merely minor participants to a murder, did not actually kill, did not act with reckless indifference for human life, or did not act with an intent to kill.
Fernandez filed a petition for resentencing shortly after SB 1437 took effect in 2019. His petition was denied after an evidentiary hearing in 2020 and his attempt at release was unsuccessful. But due to ambiguities in the drafting of the law, a Supreme Court ruling overturned resentencing cases across the state.
“This case sadly shows the very real consequences that misguided legislation has on victims of crime,” said Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire. “Active participants in heinous murders, such as Brandon Fernandez, agree to their sentences and then use these new legal opportunities to rewrite history and re-victimize loved ones over and over again. This is another example of the legislature treating innocent victims and their families as an afterthought and why one-size-fits-all reform legislation does not work.” Here are all the hearings the Vanderschoot’s have had to endure in the past seven years:
- September 2017 – Brandon Fernandez Parole Hearing (denied)
- October 2020 – Resentencing hearing for Brandon Fernandez due to SB 1437 (denied)
- July 2022 – Brandon Fernandez Parole Hearing (denied)
- August 2022 – Early Daniel Bezemer Parole Hearing triggered by the state’s Youthful Parole Act (denied)
- March 2023 – Daniel Bezemer Parole Hearing again due to CDCR technology issues during Aug. 2022 (denied)
- December 4 – Reconsideration of resentencing for Brandon Fernandez due to SB 1437 (resentencing hearing granted)
- May 6 – May 21 – Brandon Fernandez’s second SB 1437 Resentencing hearing
