#Parole Laws California

[calparolelawyer]

Non-Violent Parole Hearing Lawyer Helping Secure Early Freedom

For individuals incarcerated for non-violent offenses, the hope of early release is a powerful motivator. California’s non-violent parole review process provides eligible inmates with an opportunity to gain their freedom before completing their full sentence. Navigating this legal process, however, requires the guidance of an experienced professional who understands the complexities of the system. A non-violent parole hearing lawyer plays a critical role in preparing inmates for successful outcomes.

1. Understanding the Non-Violent Parole Review Process

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) offers a non-violent parole review process for inmates convicted of non-violent crimes. This process allows eligible individuals to be considered for early parole based on their behavior, rehabilitation progress, and lack of serious infractions while incarcerated.

Key aspects of the review include:

Eligibility Assessment: Not all inmates qualify. Only those convicted of non-violent felonies and who have served the full term of their primary offense may apply.

Case Review by the Board: The Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) evaluates the inmate’s case, focusing on rehabilitation, behavior, and risk to the community.

Written Decision: After a thorough file review, the board issues a decision. If denied, the inmate may request reconsideration or submit a new application after a waiting period.

Understanding these nuances is vital to ensure a fair review. This is where a non-violent parole hearing lawyer becomes essential.

2. How a Skilled Lawyer Can Make the Difference

Securing early release under this program requires more than eligibility; it demands careful legal strategy. A seasoned non-violent parole review attorney brings valuable experience and insight to every case.

Here’s how a legal expert can help:

File Preparation: A lawyer ensures that all documentation is accurate, compelling, and submitted on time.

Rehabilitation Evidence: Presenting certificates, educational achievements, and behavioral records in the best light strengthens the case.

Personal Statements: Assisting clients in writing sincere, reflective statements that demonstrate growth and remorse.

Advocacy: A lawyer may write letters on the inmate’s behalf, highlighting readiness for reintegration into society.

Appeals & Reconsideration: If denied, an attorney can help file effective appeals with a strong legal basis.

This level of advocacy significantly increases the chances of a favorable decision.

3. Qualities to Look for in a Non-Violent Parole Review Lawyer

Choosing the right representation is crucial. A trusted non-violent parole review lawyer will have:

Experience in California parole law

A track record of successful parole reviews

Compassionate communication and a client-centered approach

Familiarity with the Board’s expectations and standards

Such attributes ensure that inmates receive fair and thorough representation, maximizing their chances of early release.

Final Thought

For non-violent offenders striving for a second chance, California’s parole system offers a glimmer of hope. But the path to early freedom is rarely straightforward. It demands preparation, legal knowledge, and a clear demonstration of rehabilitation. Having a legal professional who is well-versed in this process can be the key to success.

At Michael Evan Beckman, individuals find the trusted advocacy and expert guidance needed to navigate California’s parole landscape with confidence. His extensive experience in parole hearings, especially for non-violent cases, makes him a standout choice for those seeking an opportunity to reclaim their freedom and rebuild their lives.

[wokealqaeda]

Scott Edgar Dyleski (born October 30, 1988) is an American teenager who was convicted of murdering his neighbor Pamela Vitale, the wife of prominent attorney Daniel Horowitz. He received the maximum penalty allowed by the law, life without parole. As a juvenile he did not qualify for the death penalty.

Scott was born in San Francisco, California to Kenneth Dyleski and Esther Fielding. His parents separated when he was two years old, and Scott was raised by his mother. During elementary school, he moved with his mother to Lafayette, California, and began living in the home of another family, with whom they had long been friends. Dyleski attended Lafayette public schools, including Acalanes High School, where he dressed in uncommon clothing such as trench coats and was described as "a nice kid" by a fellow student.

On October 15, 2005, Dyleski's neighbor Pamela Vitale was found murdered in her home. She was found lying in the entryway just inside the front door and had been bludgeoned and eviscerated. Five days later, on October 20, 2005, Dyleski was arrested on suspicion of committing the murder.

Initially, Dyleski was represented by attorney Thomas McKenna. He later asked to be removed from the case, because he defended the driver of a car that killed Dyleski's sister and another passenger in 2002. Dyleski was then represented by Ellen Leonida, a public defender. Dyleski pleaded not guilty.

Investigators believe Dyleski and his friend, Robin Croen, planned to grow marijuana in Scott Dyleski's closet, with Dyleski in charge of raising money, according to Croen, who was granted immunity for testifying. He testified that Dyleski used stolen credit card information belonging to his neighbors and used the cards to order lighting equipment. He also testified that his role in the credit card scam was researching what equipment to order. Croen actually constructed order forms from websites that he claims he then sent to Dyleski. According to prosecutors, one of Dyleski's orders used the credit card information for Karen Schneider, but mistakenly used Vitale's address as the address to bill, and his own address as the ship-to address. The lighting company refused to process the order, suspecting it was fraudulent. Dyleski told Croen that he would "take care of it" and, subsequently, he made one more attempt by calling the credit card company.

Authorities believe Dyleski was surprised by Vitale during a burglary of her home. However, Dyleski's girlfriend, Jena Reddy testified at trial that Dyleski had talked about beating and breaking the necks of children and was curious about how the human body would function without certain organs. They said he killed Vitale by striking her numerous times in the head, possibly with a rock, and then carved a symbol into her back. During the trial, prosecutor Harold Jewett tried to establish that the symbol found on the victim's back closely resembled the letter "H" in the word "hate" from a bumper sticker reading "I'm for the separation of Church and Hate", which was seized from Dyleski's bedroom. The coroner's autopsy report describes the marks on Vitale's back as an "H-shaped figure cut into skin of posterior torso" and "3 intersecting superficial incisions... forming an H-shaped pattern with extension". Other reports indicate that the symbol was a Cross of Lorraine.

At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, judge Mary Ann O'Malley ruled that prosecutors had enough evidence for trial. Dyleski was arraigned on an additional charge of first-degree residential burglary and he entered a new plea of not guilty to all the charges. His mother was accused of helping her son destroy evidence, but the charge was dropped under the condition that she testify truthfully. Burglary was not presented as a motive during the trial and, in fact, it was stated that nothing had been taken. At trial, Daniel Horowitz said he had never gone through his wife's financial records to see if anything was amiss.

Jury selection began in July 2006 in the courtroom of judge Barbara Zuniga, who became the trial judge after defense attorney Ellen Leonida made a peremptory challenge against judge Mary Ann O'Malley on the grounds that the jurist was "prejudiced against the interest of the defendant". Attorneys provided contrasting views of Dyleski in their opening statements. Prosecutor Harold Jewett said Dyleski identified with gothic symbols and art that depicted violence and stabbed and beat Vitale. Leonida described her client as a gentle kid whose friends know he is not a killer and instead valued human and animal rights.

During the trial, the Nickelodeon animated television series Invader Zim was cited. The prosecution asserted that the defendant had a fascination with images of body parts. They drew attention to comments he had made after watching the episode "Dark Harvest", in which the alien Zim collects human organs in an attempt to appear more human. Witnesses for the defense said that the comments were made in jest.

At the end of August attorneys gave closing arguments, capping several weeks of testimony. The prosecutor called to the stand Dyleski's housemates, mother, girlfriend, friend, a forensic pathologist, a DNA expert and several criminalists. Lawyer Gloria Allred represented Jena Reddy, Dyleski's girlfriend. She told the jury that while Dyleski never admitted or denied killing his neighbor, he told her he would take the blame to protect her and his best friend. DNA evidence showed Vitale's blood was found on Dyleski's belongings, the DNA of both Vitale and Dyleski was found on the ski mask worn during the murder, and his DNA was found on the bottom of her foot. A shoe print at the murder scene was determined by the jury to match shoes belonging to Dyleski. Jason Kwast, another criminalist, testified that the pattern of bloody footprints found on a plastic lid that was discovered in Vitale's house matched the pattern of the bottom of Land's End shoes belonging to Dyleski. A chilling to-do list was purported to have been written by Dyleski. Leonida called a number of Dyleski's friends to serve as character witnesses. Dyleski exercised his right to remain silent and did not testify. No DNA experts were called to rebut the prosecution's DNA evidence.

Scott Dyleski was found guilty of all the charges against him: first-degree murder, the special circumstance of murder in the commission of a first-degree residential burglary, first-degree residential burglary and an enhancement for using a dangerous weapon to bludgeon Vitale.

Even though Scott was originally sentenced to life without parole, in 2018 Dyleski's sentence was reduced to 25 years to life in prison after the state of California passed Senate Bill 394, which bill gives juveniles tried as adults and sentenced to life without parole a chance for eventual freedom. He will be eligible for parole in 2030.

[offender42085]

Post 1371

Chase Leonard Bomar, California inmate BV7380, born 1998, incarceration intake August 2023 at age 24, sentenced 16 years to life, scheduled release date not published, parole eligible August 2029

Murder

In July 2023, a year after a jury found brothers Chase and Cody (California inmate BV7381) Bomar guilty of second-degree murder in the 2018 killing of their former roommate Jeremy Fortuin, the brothers were sentenced.

Both Bomars were sentenced to 16 years to life in prison, including a one-year enhancement for being armed with a deadly weapon. As the second-degree murder charge is a serious, violent felony offense, it counts as a first strike for both Bomars and would count as an enhancement in future trials in accordance with California's "three strikes" law. If the Bomars do attain release in the future, they will be subject to a lifetime term of parole or post-release community supervision. 

Though the Bomar brothers' weeks-long jury trial concluded July 19, 2022, a series of rescheduled dates led to the delayed sentencing that finally unfolded. 

Before their sentences were delivered, the court held a 'Franklin hearing' for the Bomar siblings; at the time of Fortuin's murder, Chase was 19 and Cody was 21. Taking into consideration their young age and a letter of recommendation from the brothers' pre-trail release officer, the Judge was called upon to rule if the Bomars' case constituted as unusual, which would allow for the two to be placed on probation rather than sent to prison. 

Evidence proffered during the hearing included a letter from the release officer, a psychiatric analysis and a letter from Cody that expressed his remorse. Though the pair were young at the time of the crime and had no significant prior history of criminal offenses (Chase had a prior juvenile offense and had successfully served his probation), the Judge's analysis led her to decide against the possibility of probationary release for either brother.

4d

[remembertheplunge]

Love and Care at any cost

July 21, 1989.  Friday

Glen Sanders got out of prison today. He was a flashy blonde attorney in Modesto, California. He is now, after release from prison,   a tanned muscular hardened soul. He will move from law to selling cars in Orange County. We had gone to Mallard’s on Bearnie’s request and lo and behold, Glen shows up. He said that the worst part about prison was the trip there. He kept hoping that the bus would crash (and he would die). But, upon arrival he was placed in a 60 man barracks with 56 blacks, 3 whites and 1 Mexican. (OK, it was a 61 man barracks). He went to lie on his bunk. Next thing he knew, a huge black man hovered over him and said “We need white guys. You wanna work in the Kitchen? “Ok” said Glen. Glen did work in the kitchen for a time, but , then was sent off to Folsom Prison. There, even though he was very low security, he was housed with a guy doing 154 years. Because prisons are run by inmate clerks, the inmates had know that he was coming for a week. So, upon his arrival, he was treated as somewhat of a hero. He was sent a TV, a radio, coffee and cigarettes by the bros. He would be awakened by punk headed youths—“Man, can you look at my appeal?” He was known as “lawyer man”.

He said prison was not dangerous, just deadly dull. It’s not at all what we outsiders think. Guys in there grow to like it. You are fed and housed and it’s like the military. But, mail and visitors are important. He got lots of mail and visits from people like Modesto attorney F. Who he hardly knew.

And, just before he was sentenced, he said Judge U. , who was going to sentence him, came to his jail cell and said “I don’t want to sentence you to prison, but I must." Glen knew then a political fix was in. 

Toward the end of his prison stay, representatives from the Governor’s office searched through the prisons for the perfect representative inmate to represent inmates regarding industry--making money via production, or some such thing, while in prison. They picked Glen and he was on TV many times. Glen was also “shipped in for meetings with the Duke et. All. And, he was called by the Governor ,too. 

We set in awe  and listened at Mallards on hard stiff stools. We bought him one of his first drinks in a year and a half.  He asked “what’s it like now in the courts?”  We told him the story like we would to the walking dead.

But, I forgot to mention that he said as guys near exit time (from prison) they panic…”What am I going to do out there? Maybe I can last 60 days." They hope to be violated and returned. 

Love and care at any cost.

End of entry

Notes: 3/2/2025

The Governor of California in 1989 was George Deukmejian (Duke)

 Per a Modesto Bee 1985 article,  Glen Sanders had been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and to cause perjury. 

“An ex-convict on parol testified Friday (in the trial of Glen Sanders.)

 he committed perjury 4 years ago to help a client of Modesto attorney Glen S. fight a murder charge.”

Please see the Modesto Bee article mentioned above in the following blog post.

Glen died. Years  later of complications due to diabetes.

[aries-the-red05]

EVERYONE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THIS!!!!!

Huge GIGANTIC TW for SA, mentions of rape, mentions of masturbation, and transphobia.

A 2018 report from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law along with a subsequent report in the UCLA Journal of Gender and Law, found that it was common for trans women placed in men's prisons to be assigned to cells with aggressive cisgender male cellmates as both a reward and a means of placation for said cellmates, so as to maintain social control and to, as one inmate described it, "keep the violence rate down". Trans women used in this manner are often raped daily. This process is known as "V-coding", and has been described as so common that it is effectively "a central part of a trans woman's sentence". The report also found it common for correctional officers to publicly strip search trans women inmates, before putting their bodies on display for not only the other correctional officers, but for the other prisoners. Trans women in this situation are sometimes made to dance, present, or masturbate at the correctional officers' discretion. The prisoners serving as customers for these women are informally referred to as "husbands". A 2021 California study found that 69% of trans women prisoners reported being made to perform sexual acts they would have rather not, 58.5% reported being violently sexually assaulted, and 88% overall reported being made to take part in a "marriage-like relationship". Trans women who physically resist the customer's advances are often criminally charged with assault and placed in solitary confinement, the assault charge then being used to extend the woman's prison stay and deny her parole.

This not only happens in the USA, but happens globally and there has been documented cases of it happening in France and the UK as well.

Many people aware of it fear that it will drastically increase after Trump's Project 2025 as trans women are arrested and imprisoned for simply existing in public, this is a real possibility, and the influence can spread globally to cause other nations to do this too.

Best I can say is: SPREAD AWARENESS PEOPLE!

Written by u/communistsorcerer

Commented on a post by u/communistsorcerer on r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns2

Spread this!!!!!!!

[dertaglichedan]

Max Factor heir and convicted rapist Andrew Luster is set to walk free after being granted parole - as victim slams Kamala Harris reform law

The disgraced Max Factor heir who was convicted of 86 counts of drugging and raping unconscious women in 2003 is set to be released early after his crimes were reclassified as 'non-violent' under a 2016 law change masterminded by Kamala Harris, DailyMail.com can reveal. 

Andrew Luster, now 60, infamously fled to Mexico during his rape trial – only to be tracked down by Dog the Bounty Hunter and hauled back to the US in chains.

Now one of his victims has bravely come forward in an exclusive interview to talk about her fears at his imminent freedom.

Tonja Balden, 51, who was just 23 when she was drugged and raped by Luster after a night out in Santa Barbara, told DailyMail.com. 'I'm afraid that when he is released he may continue the same crimes. He just turned 60. That's not very old.

'It is so psychopathic to set up this type of thing where you find a woman, drug her, and then she's an unconscious body and to do all of these things to her while you're videotaping it. That is a real sadistic way of thinking that I don't know if that can be fixed.'

Initially handed 124 years in prison, depraved Luster's sentence was revised down to 50 years in 2013 on appeal.

And now the serial rapist will walk free from Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, California, in a few months' time after being granted parole in August, having served just half his sentence.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“And now the news”:

The wildfires engulfing Los Angeles County have scorched more than 36,000 acres, or 56.25 square miles — a total area larger than some of the United States’ most densely populated cities. They have spread to roughly 36,365 acres combined.

The Palisades Fire has burned over 20,000 acres and destroyed more than 10,000 structures, and as of 9 a.m. was 8% contained, which is progress from last night when it was 6% contained at 10 p.m., thanks to favorable wind conditions overnight.

The Eaton Fire in Pasadena-Altadena has now destroyed 13,956 acres with 3% containment. The fire is believed to have damaged or destroyed 4,000 to 5,000 structures. The fire did make a push toward Mount Wilson Observatory on Thursday, but the building did not suffer any damageand the relay antennas atop the mountain for communication across Southern California are unharmed.

The Palisades and Eaton fires have become the No. 1 and No. 2 most destructive fires in Southern California history.

The red flag warning will continue until Friday at 6 p.m. PST, but firefighters will be preparing for the next red flag event expected to begin on Monday.

Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna said the devastation caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles has been catastrophic and that “parts of the city look like an atomic bomb was dropped.” (He’s right)

So far, at least five blazes have burned an area:

About the same size as Miami…

Two and a half times larger than Manhattan.

Larger than San Francisco and Boston, both of which cover more than 46 square miles…

And around 3.5% the size of Rhode Island, the smallest state.

And it really is worse than it looks. Whole neighborhoods have been devastated, leaving nothing but rubble. At least 10,000 properties have been destroyed, the Los Angeles County assessor said. The death toll has risen to ten and will go higher once it is safe to enter the burned-out areas; one of the ten was found in front of his house with a garden hose in his hand. The Palisades Fire could be the costliest in US history, according to a climate expert. The overall cost is estimated at more than $50 billion and will go higher.

Firefighting teams are expecting more wind and dry conditions to continue to complicate efforts into next week. If winds are too strong, firefighting aircraft won’t be able to take off.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has used his moratorium power to stop non-renewals and cancelations of fire insurance for one year.

A man questioned by police about possible attempted arson Thursday afternoon was arrested on a felony parole violation charge, Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said Friday morning. Officers responded to calls about a man trying to start a fire who was being detained by members of the public in the 21700 block of Ybarra Road in Woodland Hills, near the Kenneth Fire, at 4:32 p.m. Due to lack of probable cause he was not arrested or charged, , but he was arrested on a felony probation violation.

The Los Angeles District Attorney announced that anyone flying an unauthorized drone will be “prosecuted to the maximum.” "If you're thinking that it's fine to send a drone up in the area for your own amusement, or you want to get information that nobody else can get, and you do it in one of these areas that for which drones are not permitted … you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be punished to the full extent of the law.” This follows an incident yesterday in which one of the Canadian “Super Scooper” water bombers collided with a drone over a drop over the Palisades Fire, damaging the nose gear and putting the plane out of service until at least Monday for repair. This leaves only one of the “Super Scoopers” in service.

Updates to follow.

[partisan-by-default]

A report released in January by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital civil liberties organization, found that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department improperly accessed databases with sensitive personal information thousands of times in 2023. 

According to annual reports submitted by the department to the California Department of Justice (DOJ), deputies flouted a rule against accessing the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System database, known as CLETS, to run background checks for concealed carry permits. California law enforcement officers use the CLETS database daily for investigations, traffic stops, and checking for restraining orders for calls involving domestic disputes. It gives police access to a trove of personal information, including records housed with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). The NCIC, run by the FBI, tracks and shares crime-related information with police, including parole records and a person’s immigration status. 

In a statement, the sheriff’s department said its employees were “unknowingly” accessing CLETS for background checks related to concealed carry permits and blamed their system’s outdated programming. “Once this issue was discovered, immediate corrective action was taken to mitigate unintended access.” According to the statement, the department has since updated the programming and instituted warnings to prevent the access issues from happening again. 

The CLETS Advisory Committee meeting minutes from May also reported that sheriff’s department deputies were retrained, and new procedures were implemented to prevent further issues.

But the department’s self-imposed consequences aren’t enough for Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the ACLU of Southern California. “At the Sheriff’s Department, heads must roll,” he said.  

[lunas-nargle]

↳ fifteen

chapter fifteen of "meddle about" series brian o'connor x reader

xv. sentenced

At the end of the day, Dom still ended up in handcuffs. 

Y/n sat between Brian and Mia as they waited for the judge to sentence Dom. Monty sat beside Mia, holding her hand soothingly, Y/n holding the other tightly, as they tensely stood up as instructed, watching the judge walk to his seat. 

"Please be seated." someone said, letting everyone sit back down. Brian put his arm around the back of Y/n, trying to provide some comfort to her. 

"Please rise, Mr. Toretto," the judge said. Dom silently stood. "I've listened to the testimony...and taken into special consideration...Agent O'Conner's appeal of clemency on behalf of Mr. Toretto, that his actions directly resulted in the apprehension of known drug trafficker, Arturo Braga." Y/n felt her stomach and lungs squeeze as the judge continued. "However, this judiciary finds that one right does not make up for a lifetime of wrongs," 

Y/n let out a shaky breath. Hearing this, Brian moved his arm that was wrapped around Y/n. 

"And as such I find that I am forced to level the maximum sentence under California law." 

Brian couldn't hear anymore. He stood up, and walked off upset. 

"Dominic Toretto," the judge said, as a tear slid down Y/n's cheek. "You are hearby sentenced to serve 25 years to life at the Lompoc maximum security prison system without the possibility of early parole. This court is adjourned."

[themenendezbrothers]

Menendez brothers’ bid for freedom stalled by fight over parole board document. LA Times Article.

Erik and Lyle Menendez’s long-awaited bid for freedom will be delayed a little longer.

A resentencing hearing that was supposed to begin Thursday and could have given the brothers a shot at parole for the first time in more than 35 years was delayed after a fight over access to a parole document ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom paralyzed proceedings, and set up a showdown that could end with Los Angeles County prosecutors thrown off the case.

Late Wednesday, L.A. County prosecutors filed a motion seeking a continuance because they did not have adequate time to review a “comprehensive risk assessment” document compiled by the state parole board. Newsom earlier this year asked the board to conduct the review as he considered granting the brothers clemency in the 1989 killings of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.

The brothers were convicted of murder with special circumstances and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a 1995 trial.

The resentencing hearing became a possibility last year after then-L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón asked a judge to make the brothers eligible for parole under California law, reducing their sentences because the killings happened when they were under the age of 26. Gascón cited the brothers’ work creating rehabilitation programs in prison, their low-risk assessments by prison officials and potential new evidence about their father’s alleged abusive behavior as reasons they should be set free.

Current Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman strongly opposes their release and has focused his arguments on what he sees as the brothers’ refusal to take ownership of the grisly crime.

The district attorney’s office filed a motion asking to delay the hearing so it could review the latest risk assessment of the brothers conducted by the state parole board. Hochman said Thursday that his office only received the report on Tuesday, but would not comment on its contents. He said he wanted to ensure L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic had all the material he needed to make an accurate ruling.

But Newsom’s office said Thursday that the report is not complete and would not be available until June.

“Our office notified Judge Jesic of the status of this report, which is not a stand-alone risk assessment, and offered to share it with the court should he request it,” Newsom’s office said, describing the document as essentially a first draft.

The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, initially dismissed the continuance motion as a Hail Mary from Hochman. But as the day wore on, he began to voice frustration that he had not been provided a copy. Eventually, the attorney expressed concern that he could not question his witnesses accurately without reviewing the report and the case was continued to next month.

A hearing to determine whether the risk assessment report is relevant to a resentencing hearing was scheduled for May 9. Geragos also plans to argue a motion that day to have L.A. County prosecutors removed from the case. While he didn’t offer specific grounds for the disqualification motion in court, Geragos and many members of the Menendez family who want the brothers freed have repeatedly accused Hochman of bias in the case and of being hostile and abusive during private meetings.

“This is a D.A. who made up his mind and did no hard work in terms of his position,” Geragos said, adding that Hochman “has taken a position at all times that is not supported by the law. He’s not supported by the facts.”

Hochman held a press conference outside the courthouse Thursday morning, just minutes before Jesic took the bench. Inside the courtroom, Geragos displayed video of Hochman’s remarks and contended the D.A. implied there was something negative in the parole report.

Geragos also questioned if the report was even admissible, since it was generated for the purposes of a parole hearing. In a resentencing hearing, Jesic would only decide if the brothers are eligible for parole, not if they would actually be granted release. On Thursday afternoon, Geragos said Newsom’s staff insisted to him by phone that the document was not meant to used in a resentencing hearing. The governor’s office did not respond to an additional request for comment.

On Aug. 20, 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez entered the family’s Beverly Hills home armed with shotguns they had bought with cash and opened fire while their parents were watching a movie. Jose Menendez was shot five times in the kneecaps and head. Kitty Menendez was crawling away, covered in blood, when one of the brothers hit her with a final, fatal shotgun blast.

Erik, then 18, confessed to the killings in a conversation with his therapist. While the brothers claimed Jose sexually abused them and was a threat to their lives, prosecutors contended they killed their parents to get early access to their multimillion-dollar inheritance.

A push to free the brothers gained steam last year after the release of a popular Netflix documentary about the case, which included the unearthing of additional documentation of Jose’s alleged sexual abuse. In a motion for a new trial, defense attorneys pointed to a letter Erik sent to one of his cousins detailing his father’s behavior, which was delivered eight months before the murders. The motion also contained a declaration from a member of the boy band Menudo who alleged Jose raped him when he was a teenager in 1984.

Nearly two dozen of the brothers’ loved ones have formed the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, a family-led group advocating for their freedom. The lone Menendez family member who opposed the brothers’ release died this year.

On Thursday morning, the extended Menendez family got out of three black SUVs and walked toward the courthouse surrounded by news crews holding cameras inches from their faces. A throng of reporters later swarmed Geragos and Hochman when they arrived at the court complex.

Geragos is expected to call several relatives as witnesses whenever the actual resentencing hearing takes place, as well as a former inmate who was mentored by the brothers. A correctional supervisor who thinks so highly of one of the brothers that he wouldn’t mind if they were neighbors is also supposed to take the stand, Geragos said in open court last week.

It is unclear if the brothers will testify at a resentencing hearing. Hochman said Thursday he was unsure if the district attorney’s office will call any witnesses.

Hochman, who accused Gascón of seeking resentencing in a desperate bid to boost his reelection campaign, last month announced his opposition to the brothers’ release. Hochman said Thursday that his office’s position on the brothers eligibility for resentencing is better described as “not yet,” rather than “no.”

“We have identified a pathway for the Menendez brothers to come forward, acknowledge all the lies they have told over the past 30 years. ... They can then say to the court we have come clean, we have been rehabilitated, we no longer constitute a danger to society,” he said.

Hochman and his prosecutors have argued that Gascón’s analysis of the case was paper-thin, questioned the validity of their self-defense claims and repeatedly insisted the brothers had lied about the circumstances of the shooting. Hochman has also said the brothers have not shown proper “insight” into their crimes.

x

[justinspoliticalcorner]

AP, via The Guardian:

The man who was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for attacking the husband of Nancy Pelosi with a hammer in their California home was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole following a separate state trial.

A San Francisco jury in June found David DePape guilty of charges including aggravated kidnapping, first-degree burglary and false imprisonment of an elder. Before issuing the sentence, Judge Harry Dorfman dismissed arguments from DePape’s attorneys that he be granted a new trial for the 2022 attack against Paul Pelosi, who was 82 years old at the time. “It’s my intention that Mr DePape will never get out of prison, he can never be paroled,” Dorfman said while handing out the punishment. One of the defense attorneys, Adam Lipson, asked Dorfman before the sentence was handed down to consider DePape’s mental health and isolation that made him susceptible to online propaganda. “This is a man who has always been a peaceful, law-abiding person up until his activation,” Lipson said.

When given the chance to address the court before his sentencing, DePape, dressed in prison orange and with his brown hair in a ponytail, spoke at length about September 11 being an inside job, his ex-wife being replaced by a body double, and his government-provided attorneys conspiring against him. “I’m a psychic,” DePape told the court, reading from sheets of paper. “The more I meditate, the more psychic I get.” In a letter read in court by the victim’s daughter, Christine Pelosi, Paul Pelosi called for the maximum sentence, saying the “last peaceful sleep” he had ended abruptly “when the defendant violently broke into my home, burst into my bedroom and stood over my bed with a hammer and zip ties demanding to see my wife, yelling: ‘Where’s Nancy?’” He said the attack had left him with bumps on his head, a metal plate in it, dizziness and nerve damage in his left hand. Sleeping alone at home evokes memories of the attack, he said.

MAGA criminal David DePape sentenced to life in prison for his role in conducting hammer attack on Paul Pelosi.

[calparolelawyer]

California Three Strikes Law Attorneys, Criminal Defense Three Strikes Parole Lawyer California’s Three Strikes Law can result in long sentences, but parole options exist. Our three strikes parole attorney helps eligible inmates seek reduced sentences or early release, advocating for second chances.

[offender42085]

Post 1387

Cody Lewis Bomar, California inmate BV7381, born 1997, incarceration intake August 2023 at age 26, sentenced to life, elibilge for parole August 2029

Murder

In July 2023, a year after a jury found brothers Cody and Chase Bomar guilty of second-degree murder in the 2018 killing of their former roommate Jeremy Fortuin, a Judge delivered their sentences.

Both Bomars were sentenced to 16 years to life in prison, including a one-year enhancement for being armed with a deadly weapon. As the second-degree murder charge is a serious, violent felony offense, it counts as a first strike for both Bomars and would count as an enhancement in future trials in accordance with California's "three strikes" law. If the Bomars do attain release in the future, they will be subject to a lifetime term of parole or post-release community supervision. 

Though the Bomar brothers' weeks-long jury trial concluded July 19, 2022, a series of rescheduled dates led to the delayed sentencing.

Before their sentences were delivered, the court held a Franklin hearing for the Bomar siblings; at the time of Fortuin's murder, Chase was 19 and Cody was 21. Taking into consideration their young age and a letter of recommendation from the brothers' parole officer, the Juge was called upon to rule if the Bomars' case constituted as unusual, which would allow for the two to be placed on probation rather than sent to prison. 

Evidence proffered during the hearing included a letter from the parole officer, a psychiatric analysis and a letter from Cody that expressed his remorse.

The judge denied the motion.

5m

[beardedmrbean]

A mass murderer strangled his wife during a conjugal visit in his California prison, according to prosecutors.

David Brinson, already serving life for four murders, had claimed that his wife, Stephanie Dowells, a 62-year-old grandmother, had fainted when she was found dead after an unsupervised overnight visit last November at the Mule Creek State Prison near Sacramento.

But an investigation showed that his wife had been throttled, with her death ruled a homicide, prosecutors told KCRA.

Prosecutors said they are waiting for cops to wrap up the investigation before they file further charges against the husband, who is already serving life without the possibility of parole for gunning down four people during a 1994 robbery.

It was not immediately clear how long the pair had been married. However, Dowells’ two children are demanding to know how she could be left alone with a known violent killer.

“How could they just let this happen? I just don’t get it,” her son, Armand Torres, told the outlet.

“Given the history that this guy has, we kind of wanted to know how is it even possible for them to be unsupervised?

“My mom was just left alone, and she called for help, I’m sure, and there’s nothing she could do,” he added.

The only inmates currently banned from so-called family visits — which are held “in private, apartment-like facilities on prison grounds” and can last up to 40 hours — are those on death row or sex offenders, the California Department of Corrections site states.

“Family visits are a privilege, and incarcerated persons must apply and meet strict eligibility criteria to be approved,” a spokesperson for the department said.

“Only those who demonstrate sustained good behavior and meet specific program requirements are considered. These visits are designed to support positive family connections and successful rehabilitation.”

Dowells’ daughter-in-law, Nataly Jimenez, said the slain victim was pushing her spouse to be a better person — despite his checkered past.

“They would read the Bible together,” she said. “He was in school in there because she was pushing him to try to be this better person.”

[mitchipedia]

News that got my attention today

Trump dismissed four-star Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the joint chiefs of staff, a fighter pilot, and replaced him with a retired white three-star general loyal to Trump, passing over the usual chain of command. The chief of staff traditionally spans administrations. The change included a purge of six Pentagon officials, including a woman, and furthers the Republican white supremacist, anti-women, sexist, authoritarian agenda.

Protesters confronted California Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, of Santee, Calif., who is pandering to white supremacy and xenophobia by restricting California’s so-called “sanctuary city” law.

School shooter Brenda Spencer, 62, was denied parole for the sixth time. She opened fire on a San Diego elementary school in 1979, killing two and injuring nine others, and later explained her reason: “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” The shooting became the inspiration for a song, “I Don’t Like Mondays," by the Boomtown Rats, an Irish band, written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers. It is a lovely piano ballad. The video is a perfect capsule of cheap, cheesy 1979 music videos. Geldof later said he regretted writing the song because it made Spencer famous.

Also:

An 87-year-old widower went viral for hand-delivering party invitations door to door that read “4 pm unitl the cops arrive.”

A 94-year-old woman reunited with a toddler she saved from drowing 64 years ago. He’s now 66 years old.

Authorities seized 303 cocaine-filled ceramic bananas.

9.3% of US adults identified as LGBTQ+ last year, up from 7.6% in 20230. This is the kind of thing that means TRUMP-DOGEism will have a short shelf-life. Trump came into office with the slimmest of margins; only about a third of eligible voters supported him. Those LGBTQ+ people make up a big part of the population, and they have plenty of friends, families and allies in the cisgender-heterosexual community (like me). Trump-DOGEism will continue to lose popularity as their stupid and dangerous policies harm more and more people.

Additional source: 1440

[theserpentsadvocate]

So I’ve been doing a lot of research (or, more accurately, I’ve been doing cursory research fairly often) for the seventy-million Veronica Mars fanfics I’m currently writing, and I’ve run into a… difficulty. The fic that actually prompted this post wasn’t even related to the Thumper thing even peripherally, like it doesn’t even happen in it, but what can you do.

Here’s the thing: under California law, assault is the attempt to hurt or cause harm to someone by an individual with the capacity to actually cause that harm (e.g. throwing a rock at someone and missing, trying to punch someone who dodges). Actually harming someone is battery (e.g. you knock someone out and hide their drug money inside their motorcycle).

Now we, the audience, know that whatever someone might feel morally*, Weevil isn’t legally guilty of murder – he committed battery, and that’s probably all Lamb can prove, because he has witnesses to that part. But he has witnesses. He should have Weevil over a barrel on the battery charge at least.

But here’s the sticking point (or one of them): Veronica says, canonically, that Weevil ‘pled down to assault’ (and he seems to agree with her). So… why did he end up doing time for a lesser charge?

Answer One: The writers messed up.

Okay, so this is a very unsatisfying answer, and I’m rolling my eyes at myself about it. But still: it’s very common for the general public to gloss ‘assault and battery’ as one thing, or to use ‘assault’ to refer to battery charges, doubly so since, in a non-legal sense, the word ‘assault’ does include (legal) battery. Probably whoever wrote that line assumed that they knew what ‘assault’ was and just didn’t double-check.

(And they also didn’t bother to brush up on the difference between a felony and a misdemeanour and whether you can be on parole for a misdemeanour (answer: no), but I’ll get to that.)

But that doesn’t help square everything up with canon (unless you’re the kind of person who can say stuff like ‘that line doesn’t make sense so I’m ignoring it’, which I… am not, generally speaking), so more productively –

Answer Two: Veronica messed up

Veronica’s attitude toward Weevil isn’t always great in season three, trending towards dismissive on several occasions, and she is, technically, a member of the general public, so maybe she just said assault and meant battery, and he did go to prison for battery and not assault. This would track with him still being on parole – well, at all, but notably about halfway through season three, when Veronica wants to meet with the PCHers – and mentioning his parole officer multiple times. (Simple assault is a misdemeanour and has a maximum sentence of six months; parole, unless there is a glaring hole in my Googling, is only for felonies. Nothing he does to Thumper, as far as I can tell, would qualify as felony assault – he doesn’t use caustic chemicals or a deadly weapon, and he definitely doesn’t throw anything at a moving vehicle.)

Misdemeanour battery, on the other hand, appears to have a maximum sentence of a year, and a battery charge would leave the possibility of a felony open: aggravated battery, or battery causing serious bodily harm, is a ‘wobbler’, which means it can be filed as a misdemeanour or a felony, depending on the circumstances, and ‘serious bodily harm’ includes loss of consciousness. (This would also mean he very well could be a convicted felon, which of course has implications for the rest of his life beyond just having a record. I don’t actually want this for him, obviously, but if you want the felony for fic reasons, or to explain the repeated parole references, that versatility is there.)

The only problem is, Veronica is not a very likely person to make this particular mistake. Her dad spent most of her life in law enforcement and she’s very well-acquainted with most law enforcement (and much legal) procedure, she regularly interacts with the sheriff’s department, and she commits enough illegal and dubiously legal acts herself that it’s in her best interest to be familiar with these kinds of distinctions. (Although she’s still very much protected by being a middle-class white woman – she can do things like tasing obnoxious frat bros in The Rapes of Graff without worrying overmuch that she’ll be arrested on misdemeanour battery charges, even though it would absolutely qualify.)  Also, she clearly made the effort to look into how his case played out, since she’s the one who brings all this up, and she appears to have tracked him down at the car wash deliberately, so it would be kind of bizarre if she then got the offence wrong. This one is convenient, but in the end it’s a hard sell and I don’t think I buy it.

Answer Three: Weevil didn’t plead down from murder to assault, he pled down from battery to assault.

Lamb’s case for murder probably isn’t all that great. It makes for terrific oomph when you are deliberately arresting someone two minutes before he’s supposed to graduate, like an absolute monster, but what does he have, really? Two kids who saw Weevil knock Thumper out with… a cloth? Or something? and take a bag of… something. (And leave.)

So this proves battery, it strongly implies robbery, and given Thumper showing up under the ruins of Shark Stadium it certainly suggests murder, but that’s not going to stand up in court. Assuming the autopsy can conclusively determine which ones are from the stadium collapse and which aren’t (admittedly a big if), Thumper’s likely to have injuries from the beating the Fitzpatricks gave him that Weevil is (per the prosecution’s own witnesses) not responsible for and which were incurred after his attack on Thumper. The kids also saw him leave Thumper’s unconscious body and walk away with the bag of money, so – dead to rights on battery, but iffy on murder. The other PCHers can testify that he had motive to kill Thumper, but they might well not be willing to, for a whole host of reasons. Weevil is absolutely smart enough to establish himself an alibi for the entirety of the time after his attack on Thumper, and that would make Lamb’s case very difficult, as does that fact that Weevil literally didn’t kill Thumper, and so there’s very little forensic evidence to be found that would be damaging to him.

(Honestly, even if the charge was murder, and he pled down to assault or to battery, the fact that they offered him that also suggests the case was flimsy. Rich, white, even-more-innocent-of-the-actual-murder Logan only got offered manslaughter in the plea deal for Felix’s murder.)

So if this is it? That is a ton of reasonable doubt. And that’s before Cliff gets up there and points out that Eduardo Orozco was a known gang member and drug dealer and had all kinds of opportunities to make the kind of enemies who might have chained him up in that stadium (which is not only true but also… basically what did actually happen). In fact, typing this all up, I’m kind of pissed Weevil did any time at all.

Add to that the fact that both eyewitnesses are kids, who are notoriously unreliable on the stand… Yeah, I can easily see the DA deciding a murder charge won’t stick. But they have him on battery! …Wiiiith most of the proof being those notoriously unreliable child witnesses. So maybe they drop the murder charges, get him on battery, and then offer him a deal. On their side, they don’t have to worry about those kids holding up in court; on his side, well, if they threatened to file the aggravated battery charge as a felony, he’s looking at the difference between a year at most in prison and a possible four-year term with all the attendant miseries of being a convicted felon for the rest of his life. And he definitely can’t afford a better lawyer than whoever’s available from the public defender’s office. So it’s reasonable to decide that going to court is too much of a gamble, and just take the deal. This also explains how he’s out so quickly, since it cannot be more than three months since he was arrested when season three starts – but if he pled right away and got a light sentence (since it’s his first adult conviction), that might make sense.

The main problem with this one, even though I really like it, is that, well, there are the repeated references to him being on parole. Weevil himself could just be glossing probation as parole, I suppose – ‘don’t tell my parole officer’ makes a better joke than ‘don’t tell my probation officer’ – but Veronica also says he’s on parole in President Evil, which is an unlikely mistake for her to make if he’s not on parole, for all the reasons outlined in Answer Two, especially in what is literally a presentation for her criminology class. (Of course, in that same presentation she refers to him ‘assaulting’ Thumper, so who knows.) Most damning is the entire B-plot of Wichita Linebacker, which makes it clear he is indeed on parole, since if he doesn’t get another job he’ll go back to prison.

(And I suppose ‘pled down to assault’ is kind of a weird way for Veronica to phrase it in this case – but not utterly bizarre, and she’d be unlikely to spell it all out like that, since she doesn’t know she’s on TV and that line is supposed to be letting the audience know why he’s not in prison.)

Answer Four: Veronica was just guessing

I’ve always read the scene in Wichita Linebacker as her finding him on purpose, especially since she doesn’t actually stick around to get her car washed, which is why I also tend to assume that she’s either recently looked up his case or been following it from the beginning and would know what the charge is. (She doesn’t appear to be surprised to see him, either.) I also just… like to think that she’d care enough to follow up on him.

But it’s also possible that she really is just at the carwash for carwash-related reasons, and she’s just… guessing about the reasons he’s out already. In this case, she might have said assault, and he acknowledges this as correct even though the actual charge was battery, because he figures it’s close enough, and she’s got the general idea, anyway.

This covers more bases than anything else, although it still doesn’t explain why she implies he’s on parole for an assault charge during the criminology presentation, at which point she would definitely have done the background to know it was battery and not assault, but mostly I don’t love it for character reasons.

Anyway. If anyone wants to hit their heads repeatedly into this particular wall with me, I would love to hear your thoughts.

*and I’m inclined, personally, to say that the moral responsibility for Thumper’s death is pretty much on the Fitzpatricks, and it’s not like he didn’t know who he was getting into business with