With new Alameda Co. DA, family of Eliyanah Crisostomo seek new charges for murder suspects
The preliminary hearing for three men accused of killing five-year-old Eliyanah Crisostomo is over. They have been held over for trial, but time is ticking as the family waits for the new Alameda County District Attorney to be sworn in.
As the trial approaches, the Crisostomo family wants new district attorney Ursula Jones Dickson to do something that Pamela Price, who was recalled by voters last year, refused to do.
In April of 2023, Crisostomo was in the back seat of her mother's car on Interstate 880 in Fremont, heading to a birthday party for grandpa and grandma. Authorities said that's when three gang members opened fire, with one of the shots striking Eliyanah in the chest.
"The pain often comes and goes," said Sophia Crisostomo, Eliyanah's mother. "There are days that I'm good, days that I'm bad but it's something that I've just learned to live with."
While Crisostomo grieves her daughter's loss, she has taken on a legal battle. Something she never thought she would have to do.
"As her mother, I am advocating for her to make sure she gets the justice she deserves," she told CBS News Bay Area.
Crisostomo said she was told by Price that it wasn't within her office policy to charge the men with murder under special circumstances.
"I know she was all about the rehabilitation of criminals and yes, there are some crimes and criminals that can be rehabilitated in some cases. But there's no coming back from killing a child, senselessly," she said.
Crisostomo is hopeful with a new DA, the special circumstances charge will be added before the defendants go to trial.
"What's right is right," she said. "What's wrong is wrong. And special circumstances will make them eligible for life without the possibility of parole. Why gamble with the future of our children for them having the ability to get out again."
But the case goes to trial on Feb. 11, the same day the new DA is set to be sworn in. Currently a judge in the Alameda County Superior Court and a former deputy district attorney, Jones Dickson was picked by supervisors to succeed Price at a meeting on Tuesday.
Crisostomo hopes Jones Dickson has heard the message from voters loud and clear that they want change and criminals to be appropriately charged for their crimes.
"I'm never going to be able to see my daughter as a teenager," she said. "These criminals may see their children through a glass window or whatever. But guess what, I will never be able to see my daughter. They will. So justice needs to be served."
CBS News Bay Area reached out Thursday to Ursula Jones Dickson, who is still finishing up cases as an Alameda County Superior Court judge.
She has not responded to our request for comment on this case.
