SACRAMENTO, California (AP) – California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday commuted the life sentence of a woman convicted of killing her stepfather in 1989, making her immediately eligible for parole.
Teresa Paulinkonis, 57, has been in prison for 31 years. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder in 1992 in Alameda County. In an order commuting his sentence that Newsom signed on Friday, the governor said Paulinkonis “worked hard to improve herself” by earning an associate’s degree, a business certificate and participating in “an extensive self-help schedule”.
The order registered four brokers praised Paulinkonis for “his positive attitude and his willingness to help others.”
The switch was one of the 20 acts of leniency Newsom signed on Friday, including nine pardons and ten medical extensions, all related to the coronavirus. Newsom has issued a total of 72 pardons, 79 commutations and 20 medical extensions since taking office in 2019.
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The California Constitution gives the governor the authority to grant clemency. Commuting reduces the length of the prison sentence. Forgiveness would effectively do the same, but it would also restore certain civil rights to people who have already served their sentences.
A medical suspension temporarily removes clinically vulnerable people from prison to serve their sentences in the community under the supervision of parole officers.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, in the center, gestures in front of local authorities when talking about the COVID-19 vaccines at Fresno Fairgrounds, Wednesday, February 10, 2021, in Fresno, California (John Walker / The Fresno Bee via AP)
Newsom’s pardons included:
– Jimmy Cha, sentenced to five years in prison in 1996 for threatening four people with a gun in a restaurant parking lot and punching two of them.
– Josephine Edu, sentenced to seven years in prison for a year in 1996, fighting with her boss and cutting her with a piece of glass.
– Alexander Galuz, sentenced to three years probation and one year in prison for a 2001 conviction of possession of a controlled substance for sale.
– Marco Gomez, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 1998 after shooting someone after an argument at an intersection.
– Steven Husong, who was sentenced to five years probation and 32 days in prison in 2014 for extortion.
– Robert Hutton, who was sentenced to four years probation and 90 days in prison in 1985 for possessing a controlled substance for sale.
– Ian Jerde, who was sentenced to three years probation and one year imprisonment in 1993 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime.
– Robert Thies, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 1988 conviction of manufacturing, transporting and possessing a controlled substance; possession of a controlled substance for sale; and conspiracy to commit a crime and obstruct justice.
– Paul Williams, who was sentenced to three years probation and 150 days in prison in 1987 for transporting or selling a controlled substance.
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Newsom’s medical extensions included:
– Leland Amos, 68, sentenced to 36 years in prison for theft as a third strike.
– Douglas Aubineau, 63, sentenced to 108 years in prison for three counts of theft as a third blow and carrying a dagger or dagger as a third blow.
– Rickie Blue-Sky, 75, sentenced to 27 years in prison for murder.
– Gabriel Camarena, 63, sentenced to 25 years in prison for theft as a third strike.
– Ronald Carter, 56, sentenced to 42 years in prison for car theft as a third strike.
– Jeffrey Cole, 66, sentenced to 30 years in prison for theft as a third strike.
– Melvin Collins, 77, sentenced to 36 years in prison for theft as a third strike.
– Steven Franklin, 68, sentenced to 70 years in prison for two counts of theft as a third coup.
– Estentio Marigny, 59, sentenced to 41 years in prison for theft as a third strike.
– Timothy Rodriguez, 67, sentenced to 25 years in prison for possession of a controlled substance for sale on a third strike.