CALIFORNIA INMATES
Tony Saavedra, Orange County Register
For several convicted killers, the horrific case of Seal Beach mass murderer Scott Evans Dekraai is a potential legal gift.
Last month, a Superior Court ruled that Dekraai — who admitted to killing eight people at a hair salon in 2011 — should not receive the death penalty because of misconduct on the part of local prosecutors and the sheriff’s department. Instead, the worst mass murderer in county history is expected to be sentenced to eight terms of life without the possibility of parole.
But the problems unearthed in the case weren’t limited to Dekraai.
Mike McPhate, The New York Times
No state relies on inmates to fight wildfires as much as California.
At any given blaze, as much as half or more of the firefighting personnel is drawn from the prison population, a form of cheap labor in California with origins dating back to the 19th century.
California’s dependence on inmate firefighters — who are paid less than $2 an hour — has been underscored as officials contend with a fierce fire season.
Steve Helling, PEOPLE
In 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez fatally shot their wealthy parents in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion. Jose, a 45-year-old Hollywood executive, was shot point-blank in the back of the head. Kitty, 47, was shot 15 times, including once in the face. At the time, Lyle was 21. Erik was 18.
The brothers initially blamed the killings on the mob, but later claimed they shot their parents in self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father. Prosecutors said the brothers were after the couple’s $14 million estate. The brothers were eventually convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
DEATH PENALTY
Dana Littlefield, The San Diego Union-Tribune
It has been 11 years since the state has executed an inmate in California.
That’s a good sign for those who hope to see the death penalty abolished some day.
To those who support capital punishment, some of them prosecutors or crime victims, it’s a sign of what’s broken in California’s particular brand of criminal justice, and that long delay is likely what prompted 51 percent of voters to pass Proposition 66 in November.
Jason Kotowski, The Bakersfield Californian
A recent California Supreme Court ruling could lead to executions resuming in months, and the county's top prosecutor and a high-ranking public defender spoke this week about whether the decision will in fact speed up the death penalty process and what benefits, if any, that will have.
The ruling, filed Aug. 24, upholds much of Proposition 66, passed by voters last year to speed up death penalty appeals. The decision becomes final 30 days after it has been filed.
PROPOSITION 57
Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times
About 100 people gathered in Sacramento on Friday to offer ideas and concerns about new regulations that have overhauled California's parole system, an effort that will allow thousands more inmates to be considered for early release.
The group gathered outside a meeting where corrections officials were to hear public feedback, the first such meeting since state regulators gave the guidelines initial approval in April. The event drew criminal justice reform advocates, crime victim and public safety officials from across the state.
Tracy Kaplan and Robert Salonga, Bay Area News Group
Ten months after California voters approved a proposition allowing thousands of prison inmates to apply for early release, a debate is still raging over who ought to be freed.
Proposition 57 left it to prison officials to clearly identify which crimes deemed nonviolent would qualify and how an inmate’s criminal history would affect eligibility. The public could weigh in during a 45-day comment period this summer — and boy, did they.
More than 8,500 people threw in their two cents, in writing and at a public hearing in Sacramento last week. Now, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is sorting through bulging email boxes and stacks of letters from crime victims, inmates, prosecutors and reformers.
CALIFORNIA PAROLE
Cathy Locke, The Sacramento Bee
A man imprisoned for murdering his former girlfriend and one of her friends in Davis 37 years ago has been denied parole for the 11th time.
Daniel Wehner’s bid for parole was denied Thursday by a two-commissioner panel of the Board of Parole Hearings, according to a Yolo County District Attorney’s Office news release. The all-day hearing was held at California State Prison, Solano, in Vacaville.
Brandon Fernandez received five more years on his sentence
157 Shares
Natalie Brunell, KCRA Sacramento
AUBURN, Calif. (KCRA) One of the men convicted in the 2003 murder of Justine Vanderschoot, 17, of Auburn, was denied parole Friday.
Brandon Fernandez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced in 2005 along with his roommate and Vanderschoot's boyfriend, Danny Bezemer, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
Joe Ybarra, ABC 30 News
Fresno, Calif. (KFSN) -- Life outside prison walls is tough for John Lira.
"I could easily fall back," said Lira.
He spent most of his adult life on the inside--locked up on drug charges.
"You lose a lot of those things when you go to prison," said Lira.
In his younger days, Lira bounced between foster care homes and the juvenile justice system, starting at the age of eight.
Marissa Papanek, KRCRTV
GARBERVILLE, Calif. - A man on violation of his parole was arrested by deputies with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) on Sept. 3 on a slew of charges, including domestic violence.
At around midnight on Suunday, authorities said HCSO deputies at the Garberville Station were dispatched to a motel located on the 800 block of Redwood Drive to investigate a report of domestic violence.
Upon arrival, deputies said they determined that 29-year-old Joshua Brandon Marcum was the aggressor. According to HCSO, deputies also learned Marcum was a California Department of Corrections (CDC) parolee and that he was wanted by the CDC for parole violations. Officials said Marcum was subsequently placed under arrest for his warrant and for the following charges: domestic violence causing injury, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, battery with force causing great bodily injury and finally intimidating or preventing a victim from reporting a crime.
CALIFORNIA PRISONS
Nerisha Penrose, Billboard
When it comes to fighting for criminal justice reform, Common backs up his talk with action. After launching his Hope & Redemption tour earlier this year -- he visited prisons for four days to perform for inmates -- the rapper, along with J. Cole, recently took over Capitol Mall in Sacramento, CA for a free concert in an effort to advocate for the same cause.
For Common, his good deeds didn't end there. He recently paid a visit to the Folsom State Prison in California and treated the men to a concert as part of his Imagine Justice initiative.
Mark Mukasa, The Up Coming
The Work is an intensely raw, emotional tour de force set inside California’s notorious Folsom State Prison. Filming within a single room, director Jairus McLeary follows the facility’s rehabilitation program – courtesy of The Inside Circle Foundation. The project documents a four-day group therapy retreat between three volunteers from outside and the jail’s convicts. These prisoners are mostly violent offenders with one having attempted to literally cut a man in half, and others being former gang members. The Work is hard-hitting and gritty, with its beauty deriving from the fact that it looks past the sensationalism and towards the emotional redemption of all individuals involved.
CORRECTIONS RELATED
KUSI News
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — Gov. Jerry Brown was in San Diego Friday for a forum with employers, law enforcement and state correction officers to discuss the benefits of hiring rehabilitated former inmates who have received job training.
Around 8,000 inmates are trained each year in service, manufacturing and agricultural industries in penal institutions.
Erik Anderson, KPBS
California Gov. Jerry Brown took the stage just after the state prison industry authority made a pitch to a room full of employers to hire trained ex-convicts.
Those prisoner advocates argue a job is key to keeping inmates from going back to prison. Keeping people from reoffending is key to keeping prison populations low.
A number of factors have conspired to swell the state's prison population. California built more prisons and mandatory sentences help to quickly fill them. Judges lost their sentencing flexibility and prisoners could not reduce a mandatory sentence with good behavior.
KCRA 3 News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) — The man accused of killing a Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy and injuring two California Highway Patrol officers during a shootout Wednesday has died, the department said.
Thomas Daniel Littlecloud, 32, of Castro Valley, died in the hospital after suffering injuries during the shooting. Littlecloud was shot by officers after he led them on a chase on El Camino Avenue, near Watt Avenue. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition with life-threatening wounds, where he later died, the Sheriff's Department said.
OPINION
Mark Shoup, Daily Press
Supervisor Robert Lovingood wants us, the voters of San Bernardino County, to impose a crime tax on ourselves. Passage of this tax will require a two-thirds vote of the people. In order to achieve this supermajority, Lovingood needs to engage in a meaningful discussion with voters regarding the causes and prevention of crime. The solution can’t be to just add cops and prosecutors. It’s never that simple and quite frankly that would never pass.
Here’s a thought about what might actually work:
First of all, let’s stop playing the blame game and let’s look at the facts. Let’s start with one of Lovingood’s pet peeves, AB 109, the realignment law. Defendants who are convicted of less serious felonies now go to the county jail to serve their sentences instead of to state prison. Calling out Sacramento for AB 109 may be comforting for some people, but here’s the fact: federal courts ordered California to significantly reduce its state prison population. Read that again, it was a Federal Court order.