LOS ANGELES — A California panel on Wednesday recommended that Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten be paroled after serving more than four decades in prison. After a hearing at the women's prison in Corona, California, commissioners of the Board of Parole Hearings found for the third time that the...
California Revisits Three-Strike Life Sentences
SACRAMENTO — Up to 4,000 California inmates serving life sentences for nonviolent convictions will have a chance at parole following the state's decision to let stand a judge's ruling saying those prisoners are eligible for freedom under a voter-approved law. The state will craft new regulations by January to include...
Brown Denies Parole for Weidert, Who Buried Fresno Man Alive
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown has again blocked parole for the killer of a developmentally disabled Fresno man who was buried alive. Brown said Friday that 55-year-old David Weidert remains too dangerous to be released. He overruled the recommendation by a state parole panel for the second time in three...
Bid To Toughen California Crime Laws Set For 2020 Ballot
SACRAMENTO — A bid to toughen criminal penalties has qualified for California's 2020 ballot, after delays pushed it past the deadline for voters to consider it this November. It would roll back criminal justice reforms implemented through voter-backed Proposition 47 in 2014 and Proposition 57 in 2016. The California Secretary...