WATCH/EXCLUSIVE: California Republicans say child molester shouldn’t walk free

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(The Center Square) – State Senate Republicans in California sent a letter Thursday to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, asking him to reverse a state Board of Parole Hearings decision that they said let a convicted child molester walk free.

The letter follows a parole hearing earlier this month in which the California Board of Parole Hearings granted parole to David Allen Funston, who Senate Republicans said in a statement and in their letter to the governor was a serial child predator who kidnapped and sexually assaulted children.

The letter was signed by Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-San Diego, and Sens. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Lancaster; Megan Dahle, R-Redding; Marie Alvarado-Gil, R-Modesto; Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield; Kelly Seyarto, R-Murietta; Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, and Steven Choi, R-Irvine.

Republican lawmakers are also calling on the governor to remove the board members who granted Funston parole and replace them with members who value public safety and victims’ rights.

“We are calling on the governor to fire the parole board, to ask for their resignations for those who were involved in making this decision,” Valladares told The Center Square in an exclusive interview on Thursday morning. “It’s absolutely frustrating and heartbreaking that the victims, these child victims who are now adults, have to fear their predator on the streets again.”

According to Valladares, the board cited early elderly release law in the state the governor signed years ago, which allows those as young as 50 to be granted early release. That law, Assembly Bill 3234, lowered the eligible age for elderly parole from 60 to 50 if the defendant served 20 years in prison. That law also allowed courts to grant defendants of misdemeanor crimes to undergo a diversion program over the objections of prosecutors.

That law passed the state Legislature in 2020 and was signed into law by Newsom that September.

“The governor’s hands are not tied,” Valladares told The Center Square. “As governor, not only did he sign the law for elderly release, but he also appoints the parole board, and he has the authority to also fire them. The reasons he can fire them are for neglect or misconduct, and clearly, those two reasons apply in this situation.”

Valladares also said that although Senate Republicans know that there were 12 members of the board, it isn’t clear who voted to grant Funston parole and who did not.

“We cannot trust them to make decisions to make our community safe” Valladares told The Center Square on Thursday before a Senate floor session. “The governor should fire those who voted for this and use his authority to do what’s right for our community and for our kids.”

The governor, through a spokesperson, has previously said he opposes the board’s decision, according to previous news reports. The governor’s office did not respond to The Center Square before press time on Thursday.

The state’s elderly parole hearing program, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, can grant parole to those who have been incarcerated for 20 years and reached 50 years of age, or who have been incarcerated for 25 years and reached 65 years old. Those sentenced to death or life in prison, those convicted of crimes under California’s strike laws and those convicted of murder of a peace officer who died on the job are not eligible for elderly parole.

Officials with the California Board of Parole Hearings were not available to answer questions from The Center Square on Thursday. Democratic lawmakers in California, who were unfamiliar with Funston’s case, told The Center Square that they weren’t able to comment.