By Larry Judkins
Glenn County Observer
Joshua Jeenen Lee is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, Sept. 2, for the death of his two-month-old daughter, Ariel, in 2021.
On Friday, July 15, 2022, Lee pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter (PC 192b). The maximum sentence for this crime is four years in prison.
The Glenn County District Attorney originally charged him with assault of a child under the age of eight, producing great bodily injury resulting in death. The maximum sentence for this crime is 25 years to life in prison.
When he was first arrested on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, he was booked into the Glenn County Jail on charges alleging willful cruelty to a child resulting in possible injury or death, and voluntary manslaughter (both felonies). The maximum sentence for this latter crime is 11 years in prison.
Lee was represented in court by the Law Offices of Jason R. Holley (Holley Criminal Defense Law Offices), located in Sacramento. The lead attorney was Robert Miller Holley.
At about 3:20 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center received a 911 call from the 100 block of West Sycamore Street in Willows regarding a two-month-old girl who was not breathing. The caller said CPR was in progress.
The office of The Sacramento Valley Mirror is also located in the 100 block of West Sycamore Street – 138 West Sycamore to be precise. That afternoon, the staff of The Mirror was busy working on the final pages of the Saturday edition of the paper and was not paying attention to the transmissions on the police scanner.
Then, two Mirror staff members heard a commotion and stood up to look outside. They saw a “smallish” woman across the street, standing on the sidewalk between the street and the parking lot, and witnessed a larger woman rush across the street and attempt to prevent the smaller woman from taking pictures.
It should be noted that the law protects photographing and video recording events in public places. The law does not, under any circumstances, permit a private citizen to physically interfere with someone who is engaging in a perfectly lawful activity.
Glenn County Sheriff’s Deputy Trish Alves quickly intervened and appeared to order the larger woman, Marlena Sparkman, back across the street. Thinking there was some kind of physical fight going on, Larry Judkins, at the time a 26-year associate of The Valley Mirror, grabbed his camera and stepped outside.
Judkins looked to his right and saw a number of people standing and kneeling on the sidewalk, just feet from the east end of The Mirror office, apparently rendering aid to someone almost completely hidden from view by the other people. Judkins quickly snapped a photo, which resulted in two or three people shouting at him to not take pictures.
Judkins responded firmly, “I will take pictures!”
Sparkman replied, “A decent person wouldn’t take pictures.”
Another woman said, “That’s my daughter and I don’t want any pictures taken!” Several people, some intentionally, stepped in front of Judkins, preventing him from taking photos.
By thus suppressing the truth regarding this tragedy, hiding from the public the full, ugly realities of the baby’s unnecessary death, the result may be that it helped to protect the perpetrator while at the same time it prevented the baby achieving the maximum degree of justice for herself.
When the baby was first brought out to the sidewalk from her father’s apartment upstairs, an Orland firefighter, who just happened to be in the area, and a Willows firefighter valiantly began performing CPR on the baby. As more Willows volunteers arrived on the scene, they took over, doing everything they could to save the little girl.
A deputy approached a man, later identified as Joshua Lee, and asked him a question.
Lee answered, “I was feeding her.”
The deputy asked, “What were you feeding her?”
Lee replied, “It was formula.”
Minutes later, the baby was carried to a waiting ambulance. She was then rushed to an Enloe FlightCare helicopter at the Willows Airport, which flew her to UC Davis Medical Center for treatment.
As glove-wearing emergency responders began picking up items from the sidewalk, highly respected firefighter B.C. Cameron approached Judkins and began to chat. Gloveless, Marlena Sparkman began picking up the infant’s blankets from the sidewalk.
Chief Cameron advised her, “I wouldn’t do that.”
Sparkman asked, “Why?”
Chief Cameron merely shook his head and repeated, “I really wouldn’t do that.”
Sparkman ignored him and continued to pick up the items with her bare hands. Of course, at that time, for all anyone knew, the blankets could have been contaminated with a pathogen or drug residue like fentanyl.
A press release from the sheriff’s office stated, “At approximately 4:45 p.m. on [Friday, Jan. 8], UC Davis notified the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office that the infant was deceased. The nurse reported that the infant’s death was considered suspicious.
“Investigators from the Glenn Investigative Task Force (GLINTF) [now the sheriff’s major case unit, no longer just the narcotic task force] were called out for the incident and assumed the investigation into the infant’s death.
“At 1 a.m. on [Saturday, Jan. 9], the infant’s father (Joshua Jeenen Lee) was taken into custody [at UC Davis Medical Center] … and booked into the Glenn County Jail.”
Lee’s $110,000 bail was posted later Saturday morning. The bail bond company was Acme Bail Bonds of Sacramento.
It is unknown whether the following is in any way connected to the death of the baby, but at 9:47 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2021, Deputy Thompson was dispatched to a report of an assault that had occurred in Willows. Glenn Medical Center staff reported the incident after Joshua Lee came into the emergency room for a complaint of pain he received during the assault.
Deputy Thompson contacted Lee, who declined to provide information regarding the incident. The assault was reported to have occurred at Central Park in Willows at about 4 p.m.
Lee said he was set upon by one or more persons. He refused to disclose who they were.
At the time, Lee was living in the same apartment at 132 West Sycamore Street, Willows.
At about 6:07 a.m. on May 25 of this year, deputies were dispatched to 102 North Alpine Street, Willows, for a welfare check after sheriff’s dispatch received a 911 hang-up. Glenn County Sheriff’s Communications said the reporting party stated his door did not lock last night and he believed someone was in his house.
Deputies arrived and contacted Joshua Lee, who allegedly admitted to using a controlled substance the night before. He was unsure why he was paranoid.
Lee stated one of the locks to his front door was locked throughout the night. Deputies determined Lee was not under the influence nor in need of law enforcement assistance.
They counseled him on the misuse of 911.
The Glenn County Observer 