Editor s note: Jim Smith of Columbia, South Carolina, son of World War II hero and Olean native Paul Bridges Smith, submitted this narrative on the elder Smith s experiences.
California Supreme Court Rules Nonviolent Sex Offenders Eligible for Early Parole
The California Supreme Court unanimously ruled this week that a 2016 ballot proposition approved by state voters makes sex offenders convicted of nonviolent crimes eligible for early parole consideration even though its proponents, including the previous governor, say it was never their intention to free sex offenders.
The ruling came Dec. 28 in a prisoner’s habeas corpus application cited as In Re Gregory Gadlin. The opinion was written by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye. Six other justices concurred in the decision.
The court’s opinion relates that in 2007, a jury convicted the petitioner, Gregory Gadlin, of assault with a deadly weapon, upholding allegations that he had previously been convicted of two serious felonies, specifically, a 1984 conviction for forcible rape, and a 1986 conviction for forcible child molestation. Both convictions required registration under the Sex Offender Registr