SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday granted clemency for 20 people, including 10 California prison inmates with an elevated medical risk if they were to contract COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.
Among the clemency actions, Newsom also commuted the prison sentence of a woman who has been in prison for 31 years for killing her stepfather in Alameda County. He also granted pardons to nine people, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office.
While Newsom has been in office, he has granted 72 pardons, 79 commutations and 20 medical reprieves.
Among the 10 people granted medical reprieves were Melvin Collins, 77, who was convicted in Fresno County and Timothy Rodriguez, 67, convicted in Madera County.
A reprieve allows inmates classified as a high medical risk to serve their sentences in “appropriate alternative placements in the community consistent with public health and public safety,” according to the governor’s news release.
Collins was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison for burglary, a conviction considered a third strike under the state’s “Three Strikes” law along with sentencing enhancements, according to the Governor’s Office. He has been in prison for 26 years.
Rodriguez was sentenced to 25 years to life for possessing drugs for sale, a conviction that also was considered a “third strike.” He has been in prison for 20 years.
The commuted prison sentence is supported by the Alameda County District Attorney, which makes Teresa Paulinkonis immediately eligible for release on parole, according to the news release. She was 24 years old when she committed murder and was later sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. She is now 57.
She used a 30-inch section of lead pipe to beat to death her stepfather, Paul Paulinkonis, who was found slumped in a living room chair in his San Leandro home on Jan. 1, 1988, the Associated Press reported. His son found his body.
While in prison, Paulinkonis maintained an exemplary disciplinary record, earned an associate’s degree, participated in extensive self-help programs and obtained a business certification, along with receiving praise from prison staff for having a positive attitude and helping others, according to a statement from the Governor’s Office.
“I have carefully considered and weighed the evidence of Ms. Paulinkonis’ positive conduct in prison, the fact that she was youthful offender and her good prospects for successful reentry,” Newsom wrote in the statement. “I have concluded that Ms. Paulinkonis is ready to be released on parole.”
The pardons Newsom granted Friday may remove “counterproductive barriers” to jobs and public service, restore civic rights and responsibilities and prevent “unjust” collateral consequences of conviction, such as deportation and permanent family separation, according to the news release.
Among those who were pardoned were Josephine Edu, who was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in San Bernardino County in 1996. She was sentenced to seven years in prison for fighting with a work supervisor and cutting her with a piece of glass.
Edu served her prison sentence, and she was granted in May 2010 a Certificate of Rehabilitation in Los Angeles Superior Court for living an upright life since her release from prison.
“Ms. Edu has presented evidence that a collateral consequence of her conviction, namely her impending deportation and permanent separation from her family and removal from her community, further justifies this exercise of executive clemency,” Newsom wrote in a statement.
