A California father who plied his daughter with alcohol and then had sex with her will avoid state prison time despite the fact that the young woman killed herself after the crime.
Stephen Vincent Chavez, a 41-year-old Moorpark, California man, pleaded guilty in May to incest and providing alcohol to a minor, according to reports.
On Tuesday, a judge announced that he would be spending a year in Ventura County Jail — dodging the state prison system entirely — and three years of felony probation.
While the prosecution sought the maximum sentence of three years in state prison, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Dusty Kawai said he could not impose a harsher sentence because Chavez had no prior criminal record, the New York Post reported.
“While we respect the court’s decision, we continue to believe a state prison sentence was warranted under the facts of this case,” said Deputy District Attorney Tessa McCarty.
The crime occurred in July of 2025, two days after 18-year-old Makayla Rene Settles, Chavez’s 18-year-old biological daughter, arrived from Raleigh, North Carolina, to stay at her father’s home, according to KTTV-TV.
“After a day of drinking at a family gathering, Chavez purchased additional alcohol for himself and his daughter to consume at home. Chavez then engaged in sexual intercourse with her,” the district attorney’s office wrote in a news release.
Should any man who commits incest with his daughter serve prison time, no matter what?
The young woman was hospitalized after the attack, KTTV reported. “According to her family, a rape kit confirmed the presence of Chavez’s DNA,” the station noted.
As bad as that situation was, it wasn’t long before it got even worse. Makayla committed suicide in December, the New York Post reported.
Prosecutors said that while she had moved to Moorpark to live with her father and attend college.
“Several members of Makayla’s family addressed the court during sentencing and provided emotional victim impact statements describing the lasting trauma caused by the defendant’s actions and the devastating loss of Makayla,” the release said.
However, Chavez’s lack of criminal history — combined with the prosecution declining to file rape or additional sexual abuse charges — led to the comparatively light sentence.
Three years in state prison is the maximum penalty in California for incest.
“Chavez exploited his position as a father, violated his daughter’s trust, supplied her with alcohol, and engaged in criminal conduct that forever altered the course of her life,” McCarty said, according to the New York Post.
The sentence drew backlash online, too, with many highlighting both the prosecution’s failure to charge Chavez with non-consensual sexual abuse and noting the judge was a Democrat.
One tagged President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, saying, “can you please do something about these democrat judges that give these monsters a slap on the wrist? Her own father got her drunk and rap*d her.”
Many noted that Kawai is a Democrat.
@POTUS @JudgeJeanine, can you please do something about these democrat judges that give these monsters a slap on the wrist? Her own father got her drunk and rap*d her.
— Barbara Borjas (@BarbaraBor22976) June 24, 2026
Another liberal democratic judge. Light on these types of crimes
— DeeRod 🇺🇲🦅 (@818Rod805) June 24, 2026
Earlier this month, Kawai drew criticism in a separate case involving a 23-year-old driver who pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter, according to KTLA-TV.
The driver was sentenced to three years and four months in prison over objections from prosecutors, who argued he deserved a longer sentence due to the fact he was traveling at over 100 miles per hour at the time of the accident, the station reported.
“Based on the defendant’s extreme speed, the preventable nature of this tragedy, and the fact that two lives were lost, we respectfully asked the court to impose five years, four months in state prison,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Paul Nuñez said.
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