Kern County lawmakers are crossing party lines to come together and urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to keep a convicted child murderer in jail.
Asm. Jasmeet Bains (D–Delano), Asm. Stan Ellis (R–Bakersfield) and Sen. Shannon Grove (R–Bakersfield) penned a joint letter asking Newsom to overturn a decision from the California Board of Parole Hearings to grant parole to convicted murderer Josue Herrera.
Driving the news: Herrera was convicted of murdering a two-year-old boy in 2008. The child suffered a depressed skull fracture, which was caused by blunt force strikes to the head. The child also suffered from detached retinas and hemorrhaging in both eyes.
- Herrera was the boyfriend of the child’s mother and was living with them.
- A Kern County judge sentenced Herrera to 25 years to life in 2010 for murder and assault of a child causing great bodily injury.
- Last month the Board of Parole Hearings ruled that Herrera has had good behavior in prison and does not pose a risk to public safety anymore. The board also found that Herrera has remorse for murdering the child.
- Herrera was granted parole despite an objection from the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.
Go deeper: While he did not have any formal marks on his prison record, the Kern County District Attorney’s Office said Herrera violated the rules of the prison daily.
- One of those violations involved being part of a restitution avoidance scam.
What they’re saying: “Josue Herrera is a danger to our communities, and his parole would result in a complete miscarriage of justice for the victim’s family,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Newsom.
- Bains added, “There is no excuse for failing to hold the worst of the worst accountable. That’s why I am carrying legislation to triple the penalty for child torture. Heinous criminals like Mr. Herrera have no business being freed.”
