In 1988, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis lost his presidential race in no small part due to the fact that he had paroled violent criminals. Taking a page from Dukakis’ book, California Governor Jerry Brown is now making a habit of paroling convicted murders. According to Brown, he expunged the records of 128 felons last year, and also gave the greenlight to parole for 377 convicted murders, a full 81 percent of all those the parole board recommended go free. Virtually all other California governors have rejected such pleas from the parole board.
Some of the murderers who will now walk the streets of California include:
- Bert Cole, 43, a former Graveyard Crip who shot a man to death after mistaking him for a competing gang member;
- Lawrence Owens, 43, who kicked and punched a man over a $20 drug deal, then watched his friend beat him to death with a concrete slab.
According to Brown, the courts have been pushing hard to release inmates slated for release by the parole board. But that’s no excuse. There may be a Willie Horton in Jerry Brown’s future – and a bevy of victims, too.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013). Follow him at Twitter @benshapiro.