Daily Archives: October 27, 2013

Scarpa Freedom SL Review
Craig Dostie walks us through the new Scarpa Freedom SL backcountry ski boot - what we think is one of the best touring ski boots to date.

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Scarpa Freedom SL Review - Video

#39;Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom #39; Trailer 2
http://www.hollywood.com #39;Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom #39; Trailer 2 Director: Justin Chadwick Starring: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Robert Hobbs A chronicle of...

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'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' Trailer 2 - Video

Drama - MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM - TRAILER 2 | Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM is based on South African President Nelson Mandela #39;s autobiography of the same name, which chronicles his early life, coming of...

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Drama - MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM - TRAILER 2 | Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge - Video

Team Freedom Mastermind 10-25-2013
Team Freedom Mastermind 10-25-2013.

By: Kristie Ching

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Team Freedom Mastermind 10-25-2013 - Video

AP/October 27, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) California Gov. Jerry Brown has decided to allow freedom to a woman who received a life sentence when she was a teenager for killing her former pimp.

Brown decided late Friday not to take action on a state parole boards decision to grant parole to Sara Kruzan, thereby allowing the decision to go into effect, his spokesman Evan Westrup said Saturday.

Kruzan was 17 when she was sentenced to die in prison for the 1994 shooting death of George Gilbert Howard in a Riverside motel room. She contended that he sexually abused her and had groomed her since she was 11 to work for him as a child prostitute.

Her case became a high-profile example used by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who sought to soften harsh life sentences for juveniles.

It is justice long overdue, Yee told the Los Angeles Times. He called Kruzans case the perfect example of adults who failed her, of society failing her. You had a predator who stalked her, raped her, forced her into prostitution, and there was no one around.

Kruzans case garnered widespread publicity in 2010 after Human Rights Watch posted a six-minute interview with her on YouTube.

The year culminated with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger commuting her sentence to 25-years-to-life with the possibility of parole on his last full day in office. Schwarzenegger said he still considered her guilty of first-degree murder, but he sympathized with her defense that the man she killed had sexually abused her and served as her pimp for years.

Given Ms. Kruzans age at the time of the murder, and considering the significant abuse she suffered at his hands, I believe Ms. Kruzans sentence is excessive, the governor wrote in his commutation message, it is apparent that Ms. Kruzan suffered significant abuse starting at a vulnerable age.

This January, a Riverside judge further reduced her first-degree murder conviction to second degree, making her immediately eligible for release.

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Brown allows freedom to CA woman who killed pimp

SACRAMENTO Gov. Jerry Brown has decided to allow freedom for a woman whose punishment for killing her pimp became a call to arms against the practice of locking up juveniles for life.

Sara Kruzan, 35, was incarcerated at 16 after she killed the man she contended had groomed her since age 11 to work for him as a child prostitute. She was sentenced to life without parole for her crime, and her case became a high-profile example used by lawmakers and advocates for juvenile offenders seeking to soften such harsh sentences.

"It is justice long overdue," said Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat who began championing Kruzan's case a decade ago.

Yee called Kruzan's case the "perfect example of adults who failed her, of society failing her. You had a predator who stalked her, raped her, forced her into prostitution, and there was no one around."

In a video on Yee's website, Kruzan said, "I definitely know I deserve punishment. You don't just take somebody's life and think that it's OK. How much [punishment], I don't know."

After years of debate among state lawmakers, Yee's legislation to allow new sentencing hearings for juveniles sent to prison for life without parole became law in January. In September, Brown signed a second bill requiring parole boards to give special consideration to juveniles tried as adults who have served at least 15 years of lengthy sentences. Advocates estimate there are more than 1,000 prisoners already eligible for parole hearings under that new law.

Even before passage of those bills, advocates convinced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2011 to change Kruzan's sentence to allow for parole. A Riverside judge in January further reduced her first-degree murder conviction to second degree, making her immediately eligible for release.

The state Board of Parole Hearings in June forwarded to Brown's office its recommendation that she be released. A spokesman for the governor's office said Brown has decided to allow the order to go into effect without his signature, almost two weeks before the deadline for his action.

Kruzan is housed at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla.

paige.stjohn@latimes.com

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Jerry Brown OKs freedom for woman imprisoned at 16 for killing pimp