Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted the sentences of five inmates serving life without parole for murder, saying Friday that they deserve a chance at freedom after transforming their lives. <\/p>\n
In all, the governor pardoned 23 people and commuted the sentences of 10 others. Newsom\u2019s office said that many of those offered clemency had experienced childhood trauma and mental health struggles that impacted the choices they made. <\/p>\n
Since he took office in 2019, Newsom has granted 247 pardons, which restore some rights to former felons, such as the ability to serve on a jury or obtain a professional license. He has also approved 160 commutations, which reduce sentences so that an inmate can appear before a parole board and potentially be released.<\/p>\n
In this round, Newsom pardoned people convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, attempted murder and drug crimes. His office highlighted that pardons were prompted by what individuals did in the years after those convictions and were at the recommendation of elected officials, law enforcement officers and community leaders. <\/p>\n
Among those whose sentences were commuted was Randolph Hoag, who was 28 years old in 1990 when he was convicted in Los Angeles County of murdering his girlfriend\u2019s ex-husband. The Times reported that Hoag, a truck driver, shot Charles Sweed six times in the back before running away. <\/p>\n
Newsom said Hoag, now 63, has \u201cdemonstrated a commitment to his rehabilitation and self-improvement\u201d and is considered \u201ca high medical risk based on his chronic, serious medical conditions.\u201d Hoag will now be eligible to appear before the Board of Parole hearings, which decides whether a person is a risk to the community after considering input from victims, their families and prosecutors. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis act of clemency for Mr. Hoag does not minimize or forgive his conduct or the harm it caused,\u201d Newsom wrote in his order. \u201cIt does recognize the work he has done since to transform himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sweed\u2019s sister, Cremae Sweed, became emotional Friday after learning from The Times that Hoag\u2019s sentence was reduced. She said a prosecutor assured her that Hoag would never be released. Her brother, who had a 5-year-old daughter, served in the Marines and owned a tow truck company. Her family was never the same after his death, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy brother has been dead longer than he was alive, and [Hoag] is still alive,\u201d she said. \u201cHe deliberately killed another man, so no, I don\u2019t want him out, and he shouldn\u2019t come out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of those granted clemency Friday were young adults when they committed their crimes, including Christian Rodriguez, who was 19 when he killed one victim and injured another in 1996. Rodriguez, 47, will now be eligible to appear before the parole board.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Rodriguez has worked as both a youth offender and peer literacy mentor, and correctional officers have commended him for his leadership and rehabilitative gains,\u201d Newsom wrote.<\/p>\n
Others whose lengthy sentences were reduced included:<\/p>\n
Citing evidence of childhood trauma, Newsom reduced the sentence of Arthur Battle, who was 18 when he and an accomplice murdered a person in a contract killing in 2006. He was sentenced in Sacramento County to life without parole plus a 25-years-to-life sentence enhancement.<\/p>\n
Newsom\u2019s office said Battle had adverse childhood experiences, a term used to describe a range of traumatic events that can impact a person\u2019s physical, mental and social health.<\/p>\n
While in prison, Battle earned his GED, took college courses and works as an aide to inmates with disabilities. Battle, 37, had his sentence commuted to 21 years to life so he can appear before the Board of Parole hearings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted the sentences of five inmates serving life without parole for murder, saying Friday that…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":187283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[104892,1582,276,104891,104890,49136,2961,2252,224,2444,5337,3435,1812,54187,74835,24659,49453,7307,8066,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-187282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-arthur-battle","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-clemency","12":"tag-hoag","13":"tag-inmate","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-life","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-times","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-newsom","20":"tag-office","21":"tag-parole","22":"tag-parole-board","23":"tag-person","24":"tag-sentence","25":"tag-victim","26":"tag-work","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115117692539850439","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}