A program that allows people convicted of sexually violent crimes to get out of prison early is facing heavy scrutiny. Now lawmakers are looking make changes.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A program that allows people convicted of sexually violent crimes to get out of prison early is facing heavy scrutiny.
It comes after news that a serial child molester has been granted parole through the program. Now, there are efforts underway to change the law.
“What in the hell is going on in California?” said Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper on Monday, at a news conference he called to sound the alarm about David Allen Funston, a Sacramento-area man convicted of kidnapping and raping children in the 90s.
“Judge in Sacramento described him – and I’ll say this – as the monster parents fear most,” Cooper said.
A judge sentenced Funston in 1999 to 20 years and 8 months in prison, Cooper said, as well as three consecutive sentences of 25 years to life.
The California Board of Parole Hearings, however, just granted him parole.
That’s because a law passed in 2017 established the Elderly Parole Program, allowing inmates who are at least 60 years old and have served at least 25 years of their time – to become eligible for parole.
A 2020 law relaxed eligibility, lowering the Elderly Parole Program age to 50 and time served to 20 years, in most cases.
Funston, who is 64 and has served nearly 27 years, would be eligible under either set of guidelines.
“I think most reasonable Californians would argue that 50 is not elderly,” said Republican State Senator Brian Jones (R-San Diego). “Especially in the case of these types of criminals that have the ability to commit these crimes again regardless of their age.”
Jones has been leading the charge in recent years to make it harder or even impossible for violent offenders – especially sexually violent ones – to gain elderly parole.
Last September, a Board of Parole Hearings panel granted Funston elderly parole. In January, Governor Gavin Newsom requested a review of that decision. And just last week—the full Board affirmed the panel’s decision.
“He was sentenced in such a way originally that he was never going to get out of prison,” Jones said, adding that the elderly parole program derailed that.
It’s why Jones introduced legislation last year to make people convicted of certain sex crimes totally ineligible for elderly parole. That bill died in committee.
He’s now working with fellow Republican Senator Roger Niello (R-Roseville) on similar legislation.
“My preference would be for them to comply with their original sentence and never be released,” Jones said.
Democratic Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen (D-Elk Grove) introduced legislation last year that also died. It would have returned to the original 2017 eligibility standards – of 60-years-old and at least 25 years served – for “persons required to register as sexual offenders, habitual sexual offenders, and persons convicted of various sexual offenses, including rape or sodomy.”
She tells ABC10 she plans on bringing an amended version of that bill back this year.
Republican Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) has also introduced legislation this year, to keep people like Funston, he says, behind bars.
“He came from my district. He victimized children in my district,” Hoover said.
Under current law, the Governor only has the authority to overturn a Board of Parole Hearings decision in a murder case. Hoover’s bill would expand that authority to overturn parole decisions in cases involving any violent felony, including certain sexually violent crimes.
“Let’s go a step further, and let’s say that the Governor himself – if he opposes the release of an individual – can actually step up and stop that from happening,” Hoover said. “We hope the Governor will join us in supporting this effort.”
For its part, the Governor’s Office posted on X Tuesday that Newsom opposes Funston’s parole, had asked the Board to review that decision “and has NO authority to reverse this independent decision per state law.”
As for whether these newly proposed bills – if passed – would affect the Board of Parole decision about David Funston, ABC10 reached out to Funston’s attorney, Maya Emig.
She told ABC10 in an emailed statement, “there is no precedent that I am aware of where the Board can review the en banc decision again after the Commissioners of the Board of Parole Hearings affirmed the granting panel’s decision.”
WATCH MORE ON ABC10 | California’s Elderly Parole Program is facing renewed scrutiny | To The Point with Alex Bell
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