What contact did the Cal City brothers have with CPS? Answers remain elusive after Kern DHS denies records request

Feb. 18—The case of two missing California City toddlers tugged at heartstrings across the nation as their disappearance raised haunting questions.

Answers about any abuse Orrin, 4, and Orson, 3, West may have faced remain elusive after the Kern County Department of Human Services denied a records request by The Californian made nearly a month ago. It's a decision lawyers described as falling on shaky legal ground. Records pursuant to Senate Bill 39 are to be released within 10 days after a request.

According to the Kern County District Attorney's Office, something went awry three months before the boys' adoptive parents reported in December 2020 that the brothers went missing from their California City home. Kern County grand jurors heard prosecutors question more than 50 witnesses, which led them last year to indict adoptive parents Trezell and Jacqueline West. They were charged with murder and other crimes in the deaths of Orrin and Orson West.

If a child dies, state Senate Bill 39, which became effective in 2008, requires the release of any abuse or neglect referrals made when the child lived with a parent or guardian, risk and safety assessments of that child, health care records reflecting a pattern of abuse or neglect, and copies of police reports against whom the abuse or neglect was substantiated.

Orrin was removed from his parents' care in 2016 and Orson was taken away in 2017 after Kern Child Protective Services accused the boys' biological parents of abuse, according to a federal civil lawsuit filed on behalf of mother Ryan Dean against the Kern County DHS. While Dean visited her boys cared for by Trezell and Jacqueline West, she noticed signs of abuse, according to the federal lawsuit.

Trezell and Jacqueline West are scheduled to appear in court March 1 for attorneys to argue motions in their criminal trial.

An email to The Californian from DHS senior paralegal Etta Sharp said a gag order implemented by a Kern County Superior Court judge in the Wests' criminal case sealed records, including documents that "may be in our agency's possession."

"I am unable to release any information at this time related to your request," Sharp wrote Tuesday.

But a gag order enacted by a trial court judge doesn't trump a state law requiring disclosing records, David Loy, the legal director at the First Amendment Coalition, said Friday. He added a sweeping gag order also violates First Amendment rights.

"Judges are bound to uphold the law and not ignore it," he added.

Two other attorneys told The Californian they are unsure whether a gag order can prevent a government entity from refusing to release documents under state legislation.

"However, any time a record is sealed by a court, the burden is on the proponent of sealing to ensure the sealing is as narrowly tailored as possible; that burden flows directly from the centuries-long presumption of openness of judicial records in this country," Gunita Singh, a staff attorney with the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, wrote in an email.

County Counsel Margo Raison wrote in an email her office doesn't have a copy of the gag order. The County Counsel's Office serves as the attorney for the DHS. It is separate from the District Attorney's Office and Superior Court.

"I have not seen the most recent 'gag order' but it is my understanding the court expanded it to include juvenile records," Raison wrote in an email Friday.

It's also unclear what is limited by the gag order in the Wests' criminal case. There isn't a physical document written by a judge outlining the gag order's scope, a supervisor at the Kern County Superior Court felony and appeals division confirmed.

The only readily available record detailing the gag order's breadth is available from the reporting by news media covering the arraignment and another hearing in which it was imposed by Kern County Superior Court Judge Chad A. Louie.

Chief Trial Deputy Eric Smith — prosecuting the Wests' criminal case — requested Bakersfield Police Department's offense reports, grand jury transcripts and search warrants to be sealed. Attorneys, court personnel with knowledge about the case, witnesses and investigating agencies are also prohibited from talking about the case, according to The Californian's previous reporting.

Gag orders are typically implemented to ensure defendants receive a fair trial and local prospective jurors consuming news don't learn information about a case. But, Loy added, many different methods aside from a sweeping gag order can ensure an unbiased trial. They include requesting the case be litigated in a different county, thoroughly questioning jurors to ensure they haven't heard about a case and ensuring a judge carefully instructs jurors about their role.

Shawn A. McMillan, a San Diego-based attorney who frequently represents parents filing lawsuits against Child Protective Services, said his reading of the California statute is that only a child's civil attorney can request to bar the release of documents required by SB 39 — not lawyers associated with a criminal case.

SB 39 exists so "the public can shine some light into what is otherwise a confidential, secret system," McMillan added.

More concerning for McMillan is whether certain death records exist to be produced under SB 39. That's because the bodies of Orrin and Orson have not been found, Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said in March 2022 when announcing the murder charges against Trezell and Jacqueline West.

Legal counsel representing Kern County could say it's unclear if there are death records to produce unless the adoptive parents are convicted in the boys' deaths — and even then, it's uncertain what may have happened without bodies, McMillan noted.

On the other hand, the attorney said, the DA's office would only pursue a case where prosecutors believed there was enough evidence to back their claims.

The juvenile court system is shrouded in secrecy, and the only people knowledgeable about a child's case are attorneys and the judge because the public is barred from attending those hearings, McMillan said.

"Without public scrutiny, there's ... things that happen that shouldn't happen and kids get hurt," McMillan added.

That's why then-state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, worked to pass SB 39 in 2008 to help the public understand more about children dying. It was prompted by the horrifying deaths and abuses of a series of local children who were reportedly under the protection of Kern CPS, according to The Californian's reporting at the time.

SB 39 allows the public to know why abuse "happened for no other reason to than to correct the underlying principle," McMillan said.

Ishani Desai can be reached at 661-395-7417. Follow her on Twitter: @_ishanidesai.