The killer of a progressive Oakland baker whose family was urging him to avoid prison has been sentenced to just seven years behind bars.
Killer Ishmael Burch, 20, was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and robbery in the death of baker and activist Jen Angel, 48, in February 2023.
The victim’s family applauded the light sentence in a statement saying: “We know Jen would not want anyone involved in her death, complicit or not, to languish in prison for decades.”
Angel died when Burch and another man snatched her purse as she pursued their getaway car and was dragged for more than 50 feet after becoming trapped in the vehicle’s door.
Her head was smashed into the sidewalk and Burch, who was driving, fled the scene. Angel spent two days in a coma before being declared dead.
Jennifer Angel, 48, was killed in February 2023 when she was dragged more than 50 feet by a car driven by robbers who snatched her purse.
Ishmael Burch, 20, was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and robbery in the Angel case.
Angel’s death last year made headlines after his family responded to the tragedy by calling for his killers not to be sentenced to any prison time.
Citing Angel’s “anarchist” beliefs in ultra-progressive social justice reform, his family called on prosecutors to pursue “all available alternatives to traditional prosecution, such as restorative justice.”
“As a long-time social movement activist and anarchist, Jen did not believe in state violence, carceral punishment, or incarceration as an effective or just solution to societal violence and inequality,” her family wrote in a GoFundMe at the time.
They added: “We know Jen would not want to continue the cycle of harm by inflicting state-sanctioned violence on those involved in her death or other members of the wealthy Oakland community.”
The pleas paid off for Angel’s killer, who was sentenced to just seven years in prison for her death as part of a deal with prosecutors that allowed other murder and robbery charges to be dropped.
Angel was leaving his car in front of a bank in downtown Oakland when two robbers smashed his car window and fled with his belongings.
Angel was previously a journalist and activist who published “anarchist” magazines calling for criminal justice reform.
Angel in a photo with his fiancée Ocean Mottley
Burch’s attorney welcomed the “restorative justice conversation” following the outcome and said he was committed to honoring Angel’s memory after he has served his sentence.
“Ismael, his family and I are very pleased with the compassion and humanity that Jen Angel’s community and friends showed towards Ismael,” his lawyer said.
“We are very hopeful that the conversation about restorative justice will continue within the Oakland community.”
On Friday, Angel’s family also spoke out to praise the move, but said it is not enough and that “there is more work to be done to achieve Jen’s dreams of a different, more just system.”
“We recognize that the State’s process is not the one Jen would have chosen to ensure accountability and justice,” the statement read.
‘We also believe that the sentence recommended by the prosecution in this plea agreement was the best possible outcome under the current legal system, in this political climate.
We know Jen wouldn’t want anyone involved in her death, complicit or not, to die in prison for decades, and we take comfort in knowing that Ismael has the chance to repair some of the damage he’s caused.
Prior to opening her bakery, Angel was an editor for the left-wing publication Clamor and also worked for the seminal punk rock magazine MaximumRocknRoll, as well as a personal zine titled F**ktooth.
After Angel’s killer was sentenced to seven years in prison, his family hailed the outcome as “the best possible outcome under the current legal system.”
Employees at his bakery, Angel Cakes, were also ordered to “never call the police,” Angel once boasted.
Emily Harris, a close friend of Angel’s and “anti-prison chief,” told the San Francisco Chronicle that the statement fit with her radical liberal principles.
“I think Jen would say that, of course, people have been trained to believe that the answer is to lock people up,” Harris said. “But we know that if people who cause harm are sent to prison, all we’re doing is perpetuating more harm.”
The family’s push for Angel’s killer to avoid prison appears to have been aided by a directive pushed by Oakland District Attorney Pamela Price.
Price, who has been criticized by conservatives for her lenient approach toward police, issued a memo shortly before Angel’s death in which she hoped to reduce recidivism by limiting harsh sentences.
The prosecution’s leadership also asked that probation be the “presumptive offer” in plea negotiations.
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