Following the California Board of Parole Hearings’ appalling decision to uphold the release of child rapist David Allen Funston, Senator Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-Santa Clarita) and other Senate Republicans are demanding Governor Newsom use his executive authority to remove and replace all current commissioners who voted to approve his release.
Senator Valladares will be available in the Capitol this morning (Feb. 26), before Senate Floor Session, at 9:00 AM for comment.
“Hearing the news of Funston’s parole made me sick to my stomach. It made me sick thinking about the pain and suffering he inflicted on his victims, who were very young children, and sick thinking about how a monster like this could be granted parole,” said Senator Suzette Martinez Valladares.
In 1999, Funston was convicted on 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation. Now aged 64, he was granted parole due to California’s Elderly Parole Program. The program was expanded in 2020 with AB 3234, which was rushed through the Senate with no public input and signed into law by Governor Newsom.
The governor claims state law hinders him from overturning the board’s decision.
“If the governor can sign laws with loopholes and appoint the people who make parole decisions, then it’s his responsibility to step in and right this egregious wrong. He can start by replacing the commissioners who approved Funston’s release with ones who actually care about victims and public safety,” Valladares added.
“Gaslight Gavin knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s trying to steer us away from the truth and consequences of his decisions. He signed the bill that gave a board stacked with his appointees the ability to set free a violent, serial child rapist into the community,” said Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego). “I’ve twice introduced legislation to change elderly parole and prevent predators like Funston from being freed, but Democrats in Sacramento swiftly killed those efforts to fix this broken system. Spare us the fake outrage, governor. You created this whole system.”
Click here to read the letter to Governor Newsom.