Justice for Anna Guo!

Ventura County Star -- Girl sentenced to group home

By Aron Miller, amiller@insidevc.com January 15, 2003 A 14-year-old girl shot by a Ventura police officer last year while brandishing a large kitchen knife was sentenced to a group home indefinitely Tuesday after a judge gave her a pep talk. Anna Guo sat almost motionless in a wheelchair as Superior Court Judge Brian Back tried to reassure her about her chances for living a normal life. He then ruled she will spend...

Los Angeles Times -- Girl in Assault Case Is Sent to Group Home

By Steve Chawkins, Times Staff Writer Two years ago, she came to California from China, convinced that "the U.S.A. is like a heaven for teenagers and children." In 2002, she was taken from the home of an abusive father and placed in foster care. After threatening suicide with a knife, she was shot three times by the Ventura police officers who had come to help her. At a hearing Tuesday, the 14-year-old girl was ordered into a residential treatment program. Ventura...

Anna sentenced to five years in a group home

Anna was sentenced to five years in a group home today. We will be discussing Anna's legal options, but rest assured, this is far from over. The website has undergone a facelift, which I've been working on for the past week or so. The "Resources" section is not yet complete but I should have this finished by tomorrow. Please let us know of any technical difficulties, thanks.

Ventura County Star - Spare the charges, save the 14-year-old child

By Paul J. Loh and Peter K. Stris January 1, 2003 Re: your Dec. 31 article, "Judge finds foster girl guilty in assault on officer": Anna Guo, who goes by the nickname "Baby," is 14 years old. She should be looking forward to four years in high school. Instead, she is nursing three bullet wounds and facing four years of incarceration. Anna's story is Dickensian. She was abandoned by her mother in China and severely beaten by her father in America. Although...

Judge Curtis Found Anna Guilty Yesterday

Judge Curtis ruled that the Ventura Police officers' conflicting testimony about Anna raising the knife, a third-party witness' testimony that Anna did not raise the knife, and rookie officer Rupp's gross violation of departmental policy which caused the confrontation were not sufficient to cause reasonable doubt in his mind. If those things would not suffice to cause reasonable doubt, what would? Yellowworld.org and participating organizations will be holding a meeting in next week...

Ventura County Star - Judge finds foster girl guilty in assault on officer

By Tamara Koehler, tkoehler@insidevc.com December 31, 2002 Dismissing defense claims of a police cover-up, a judge ruled Monday that 14-year-old Anna Guo assaulted a peace officer and that the officer was justified in shooting the girl. Superior Court Judge Herbert Curtis III found that Anna, though troubled, intentionally rushed at Ventura Police Officer Kristin Rupp with a large kitchen knife raised threateningly...

Los Angeles Times - 2nd Ventura Officer Testifies in Shooting of the Girl, 14

A Ventura police officer testified Thursday that a 14-year-old girl was holding a knife and flailing her arms as she ran down stairs just before a second officer shot the girl at her foster home in May. "She became very upset and started yelling and screaming and kind of brushing and swinging her arms," Officer Greg Knupp said. "As [the knife] moved, I could see the shine of the blade." The girl is on trial on suspicion of felony assault of an officer. But...

Ventura County Star - Judge rules out teen's 2nd taped interview

A judge ruled Thursday that statements made by Anna Guo during a tape-recorded interview with police detectives shortly after the eighth-grader underwent surgery for gunshot wounds are not admissible. Anna is on trial for allegedly threatening Ventura Police Officer Kristin Rupp with a knife during a confrontation in May. Rupp shot the girl in the thigh and abdomen after Anna refused to drop the knife, according to testimony thus far. Police conducted two interviews of Anna after...

Failure to Train Revealed on First Day of Trial

�Honestly�I didn�t learn anything in Crisis Intervention Training,� admitted 24-year-old rookie officer Kristin Rupp on cross-examination, as she nervously teetered in her chair. An apologetic smile followed. Rupp was the first witness called in the estimated 5-6 day trial. The malicious trigger-happy cop that some of us imagined to have shot Anna instead turned out to be a young, soft-spoken officer, her long blond hair tied neatly in a bun as she shyly made her way into the courtroom....

Ventura County Star - Deputy: Officer followed rules in shooting teen girl

By Tamara Koehler, tkoehler@insidevc.com December 20, 2002 Ventura Police Officer Kristin Rupp appears to have done what she was trained to do when she shot a 14-year-old girl rapidly approaching with a knife, based on testimony presented Thursday. Rupp, who graduated at the top of her Sheriff's Academy class in June 2001, underwent 24 weeks of training that included a course on encounters with people armed with knives,...