The commutation was one of 20 acts of clemency Newsom signed on Friday, including nine pardons and 10 medical reprieves, all relating to the coronavirus. Newsom has now issued a total of 72 pardons, 79 commutations and 20 medical reprieves since taking office in 2019.
The California Constitution gives the governor authority to grant clemency. A commutation reduces the length of a prison sentence. A pardon would effectively do the same, but it also restores certain civil rights for people who have already completed their sentences.
A medical reprieve temporarily moves medically vulnerable people out of prison to to serve their sentences in the community under the supervision of parole officers.
Newsom commutes sentence of East Bay woman who killed stepfather
ADAM BEAM, Associated Press
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday commuted the life sentence of a San Leandro woman convicted of killing her stepfather in 1989, making her immediately eligible for release on parole.
Teresa Paulinkonis, 57, has been in prison for 31 years. When she was 24, prosecutors say she and her mother first attempted to kill Paul Paulinkonis, 67, by poisoning his meatloaf and drinks with oleander. When that did not work, Teresa Paulinkonis bludgeoned him to death with a pipe on New Year s Eve 1989. She was sentenced to 25 years to life for murder in 1992.
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