Newsom Grants Clemency to Felons for Serious Crimes Involving Firearms

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he is commuting the sentences of 21 inmates, most of whom were serving life terms. Newsom’s clemency and commutations grant each offender hearings with the state Board of Parole Hearings.

Yet 19 of the 21 were convicted for serious crimes involving firearms. The Governor has frequently opined on the evils of “gun violence” yet releases violent criminals, who used firearms in their crimes, back into the general population.

One of the felons granted clemency one was known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” in Sacramento. “Ronald Mark Feldmeier, known as the ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ for wrapping a pillow case around the face of his victims,” the Sacramento Bee reported. “Feldmeier’s release location will not be disclosed by CDCR for security reasons.”

Whose “security”? Certainly not for his past victims.

Another of the felons granted clemency is Marcus McJimpson, who was 21 when he fatally shot Vernon Clark and Scott Walker in Fresno during an altercation in 1988. He was sentenced to life in prison. Newsom’s commutation will make McJimpson eligible for a parole hearing, the Fresno Bee reported.

Last week, the Globe published “CA Democrat Lawmakers Releasing Violent Criminals From Prison, While Imposing Gun Control Laws on Citizens,” noting that as law and order is being undermined with legislation, police are being undermined with laws changing use of force rules, and Democrats in the Legislature are passing more strict gun control laws making it more and more difficult for citizens to legally purchase and own guns and ammunition in California.

“Do the math,” Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber)  recently said. “Forty thousand used to be in custody. Tens of thousands used to be on parole and used to be supervised – and now they are getting away with it.”

Nielsen was talking about the suite of legislation and ballot initiatives which reduced a host of felonies to misdemeanors, allowed early release for newly redefined “non-violent offenders,” and shifted responsibility of repeat, newly classified “nonviolent” offenders from state prisons to county jails. These “non-violent” crimes included drug crimes, date rape, and all thefts under $950, even for repeat offenders who steal every day.

Notably, the crimes former Attorney General Kamala Harris considered to be “non-violent” when she wrote the ballot title for the initiatives included Rape by intoxication of an unconscious person, Human trafficking involving a sex act with minors, Arson causing great bodily harm, Drive-by shooting, Assault with a deadly weapon, and Hostage taking.

In 1995, Andrew Crater was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of musician James Pantages in Sacramento, after a string of armed robberies, culminating in the murder of Pantages.  But because Crater has served more than 24 years of his sentence and “has dedicated himself to rehabilitation” he’s receiving a sentence commutation.

But Jim Pantages is still dead and his family still grieves.

“Included in Newsom’s disturbing commutations are a number of other violent murderers,” Law Enforcement Today reported. “One is Marcus McJimpson, who has served 31 years of two life terms for a 1988 Fresno County double murder. Then there’s 80-year-old Doris Roldan, who has been imprisoned since 1981 for the first-degree murder of her husband. Roldan, who is from Los Angeles County, now uses a wheelchair… so was recommended for clemency by her warden.”

The California Supreme Court will uphold or reject Newsom’s commutations. “In his final weeks in office, former Governor Jerry Brown had 10 clemency actions blocked by the court,” Law Enforcement Today said. “It was the first time since 1930 that a California governor’s commutation requests had been denied.”

We will see if Gov Newsom is the second governor to have his commutation requests denied.