Members of the Chicano Commencement Group, some faculty and community members are petitioning against a proposed plea deal for the three people charged in the death of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. She died in May of 2008, after working in a vineyard outside Stockton. The plea bargain would spare the defendants prison time.
"We're demanding jail time for the heat death of 17-year-old Maria Isabel in conjunction with the united farm workers and San Jose State's Chicano Commencement Group," student activist Yezel Rosales said.
The three defendants include the owner, safety director and former supervisor of Merced Farm Labor, which has since been shut down by the state. They're scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday in Stockton.
