Should alleged gunman in ‘execution’ of Caleb Quick in Clovis be tried as adult?

A Fresno County judge on Friday set the transfer hearing — an important process to determine if a juvenile can be tried as an adult — for Byron Rangel, the teen whom police say killed Caleb Quick in Clovis with an execution-style shooting at close range.

Judge David C. Kalmekarian set the proceeding to begin Dec. 1 with both Rangel’s defense attorney and the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office agreeing the delay was necessary to accommodate the expert witnesses required at the transfer hearing.

A transfer hearing is a consequential process for youthful offenders in which prosecutors attempt to show the juvenile cannot be rehabilitated and should face an adult criminal case.

Rangel could potentially be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole if he were to be tried and convicted as an adult, prosecutors said. As a juvenile, he could be sentenced to seven years of confinement or up until he turns 25.

Rangel has been charged with murder and an enhancement for allegedly lying in wait for the victim, Caleb Quick, who was 18 when police said Rangel shot Quick in the back of the head in a parking lot outside a hybrid McDonald’s and gas station near Nees and Willow avenues on April 23, 2025.

Rangel was 16 on that night, as was his girlfriend, Cassandra Michael, who was convicted on Monday for her part in the crime. Prosecutors say she helped plan the killing and video surveillance showed her act as the driver for the alleged shooter after he fled on foot to a nearby neighborhood.

Michael previously was the subject of a transfer hearing, and Fresno County Judge Kimberly A. Gaab said the DA’s Office failed to clear the high bar of showing Michael could not be rehabilitated. She was tried as a juvenile in a trial that ended on Monday.

The attorney for Rangel, Kathy Bird, and Chief Deputy District Attorney Kendall Reynolds told the judge the case would take about two weeks and could feature as many as 15 witnesses.

Both sides said they did not expect the transfer hearing to last the full two weeks, but they had to accommodate the schedules of expert witnesses over that time. They’re expected to call psychologists to testify about their assessments of Rangel.

The killing of Caleb Quick

Prosecutors allege Rangel shot Quick as part of a revenge scheme the two 16-year-olds planned because of an alleged sexual assault by Quick on a teen girl that followed a drunken house party. Michael’s defense attorneys argued at her trial that she was not aware of Rangel’s plans to kill Quick.

Witnesses testified that Rangel had anger issues and was jealous of Michael’s male friends, which included Quick.

Michael is due back in court on Sept. 2, when a judge could determine her sentence.