Newsom Commutes Sentences of 21 California Inmates

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that he had commuted the sentences of 21 California prison inmates, most convicted of murder or attempted murder and seven of whom had been serving life terms with no chance of parole.

Newsom cited the youth of a majority of the offenders he selected when they committed their crimes, including one inmate from Santa Clara County who was convicted at the age of 15 for his involvement in a robbery and murder.

He also criticized what he called the “disproportionately long sentencing enhancements” for some felons, including 25-years-to-life for using a firearm.

Newsom’s office pointed to studies showing that the part of the brain responsible for impulse control does not mature until well into adulthood, along with offenders’ capacity for remorse and rehabilitation. He noted that the state and federal Supreme Court and California lawmakers have all found that youthful offenders must have a meaningful opportunity for parole.

The commutations do not immediately free the inmates, but do make them eligible for parole hearings.

“The Governor reviews each application on its own merits,” Vicky Waters, a spokeswoman for the governor, said in an email. “He carefully reviewed each application and considered a number of factors, including the circumstances of the crime and the sentence imposed, the applicant’s conduct while in prison and the applicant’s self-development efforts since the offense, including whether they have made use of available rehabilitative programs and addressed treatment needs.”

All of the inmates have served at least a decade behind bars, including Maurice Nails and Alladin Pangilinan, both of whom were convicted in separate Alameda County murder cases.

Newsom also noted that in several of the commutations, the offender had been an accomplice in a slaying but had not been the one who pulled the trigger. California recently enacted laws limiting the so-called felony murder rule, as well as laws making sure youthful offenders are considered for parole.

Commutations differ from the pardons that Newsom previously granted to scrub the records of offenders who had already completed their sentences. The governor has received more than 3,200 official requests for commutation since taking office in January, and this marks his first time using his clemency authority to grant them.

In March, Newsom put a moratorium on executions so long as he is governor, although none of the offenders granted commutation had been sentenced to death.

Newsom’s predecessor, Jerry Brown, had criticized the numerous sentencing enhancements allowed under California law, many adopted as get-tough policies in the 1980s and 1990s. In his most recent eight years in office, Brown granted upward of 1,100 pardons and 152 commutations, far more than any other governor in modern California history.

State lawmakers on Friday were on the verge of sending Newsom a bill ending a mandatory one-year enhancement for repeat nonviolent felonies, though he has not said if he will sign it.

Among those granted commutation by Newsom was Doris Roldan, an 80-year-old woman from Los Angeles County who is now in a wheelchair and has been serving a life-without-parole sentence for working with two accomplices to kill her husband when she was 42 years old.

Two other inmates benefited from a program that trains and socializes dogs rescued from animal shelters, some of whom are prepared to help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The inmates include Marcus McJimpson, who was 21 in 1988 when he shot and killed two men during an altercation. He was a founding member of the Paws for Life dog training program, while Bryant Salas participated on the program. Salas was 18 in 2007 when he participated in a gang-related fight during which an accomplice stabbed two men, killing one.

KQED’s Matthew Green contributed reporting.