California Senate Republicans are urging Governor Newsom to remove parole board members after they granted parole to serial child molester David Allen Funston.
SACRAMENTO, Calif — California Senate Republicans are calling for the removal of the Board of Parole Hearings commissioners who granted parole for convicted serial child molester David Allen Funston.
In 1999, Funston was sentenced to 20 years and 8 months in prison, Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper said, as well as three consecutive life sentences for kidnapping and raping multiple children.
Under California law, inmates who have reached the age of 50 and served 20 years in prison are eligible for the Elderly Parole Program.
A Board of Parole Hearings panel granted Funston, who is 64 and has served nearly 27 years in prison, elderly parole last September. In January, Governor Gavin Newsom requested a review of that decision.
Last week, the full parole board affirmed the panel’s decision, sparking outrage from state officials and local Sacramento law enforcement leaders.
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.”
While Newsom can only overturn a parole board’s decision when it involves murder sentences, senate republicans are asking the governor to use his executive authority to remove the members of the board that approved Funston’s release
“When the Board releases a serial child predator, the problem is not a technicality. The problem is the Board itself. We call on you to immediately remove the members of the Board of Parole Hearings who supported this decision and appoint commissioners who will prioritize public safety and victim protection, rather than siding with dangerous felons who repeatedly prey on California’s children,” a coalition of Senate Republicans wrote in the letter to Newsom.
Chris Micheli, a lobbyist and professor at McGeorge School of Law, says the governor removing a board commissioner is not as easy as removing a member of his cabinet. While he appoints the commissioner with Senate approval, the board functions as an independent agency. The governor can only remove a commissioner if it is found to have committed misconduct, negligence, or incompetence.
That removal process would then be submitted to the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections for review, according to Micheli.
“I’m not aware of any instance where the governor has tried to dismiss or fire any member of the board of parole hearings for making a decision that he’s disagreed with,” Micheli said.
The reasoning behind the stricter removal process, he says, is to prevent the parole board from making politically-motivated decisions.
“The purpose being is, we want them focused more on the facts and circumstances in making their decision as opposed to political influences,” Micheli said.
ABC10 reached out to the Board of Parole Hearings, which directed our questions to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s public communications office. On Thursday evening, CDCR responded, pointing ABC10 to the state’s Penal Code 5075, which says board members are appointed for three-year terms, and Penal Code 5081, which stipulates the governor may remove any board member for “misconduct, incompetency or negligent duty after a full hearing by the Board of Corrections.”
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