SAN DIEGO — A new law inspired by the potential release from prison of Santana High School shooter Charles “Andy” Williams will now give judges more say over whether a former teenager charged with murder as an adult but eligible for resentencing should have their case heard in juvenile or adult court.

Assembly Bill 1959, signed into law last month, comes as Williams seeks release from prison under criminal justice reforms intended to reconsider the very long sentences that had been given to offenders who were under age 16 at the time of their crime but charged as adults.

Williams was 15 years old in 2001 when he opened fire at the Santee school, killing two students and wounding 11 other students plus a teacher and a security guard. He was charged as an adult and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.

The new bill is tailored to a small universe of youthful offenders who, like Williams, committed serious crimes at age 14 or 15, were tried as adults, then given sentences long enough to be considered essentially life in prison without parole. Criminal justice reforms now allow that group of offenders to ask to be resentenced after they’ve served 25 years. Williams is seeking such sentencing relief.

When offenders are resentenced under this reform, today’s laws apply. California no longer tries 14- and 15-year-olds as adults, so when a defendant’s sentence is recalled so they can be resentenced, that resentencing is handled in juvenile court. But juvenile court loses jurisdiction when a person is age 25. The offenders older than that have been found eligible for outright release.

AB 1959 now allows judges the discretion to steer resentencing cases like Williams into adult court, where the judge could sentence the offender to any term allowed by law, as long as it does not exceed the original sentence.

In January, a judge agreed to recall Williams’ sentence, which should land his case in juvenile court. Given Williams’ age — he is now 40 — his attorney has argued for his outright release. The case remains in limbo as prosecutors appeal the decision to recall his sentence.

It’s still unclear whether the new law can be applied to his case — prosecutors previously have said yes, his attorney says no — and that sets up the potential for a second, separate legal hurdle in the fight over his bid for release. Williams’ attorney, Laura Sheppard, said that it’s a new law with no precedent, and if prosecutors do try to use it in his case, the matter “will have to be litigated in court.”

District Attorney Summer Stephan sponsored the bill. In a statement Monday, she called it a “thoughtful solution that strengthens public safety and ensures our laws work as intended.”

“The Santana High School shooting exposed how the existing law could lead to an outcome that was never intended — allowing a person who committed an especially horrific act of violence as a young teenager to potentially be released without a meaningful assessment of whether that release is safe and just,” Stephan said.

Assemblymember Darshana Patel, a Democrat whose District 76 covers a large swath of inland North County, introduced the bill. In a statement Monday, she said it “closes a gap in the law that directly impacted families in San Diego County.”

“This law is about making sure our justice system has the tools to consider the full circumstances of the most serious cases while maintaining the protections and rehabilitation at the heart of our juvenile justice system,” Patel said.

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