Oh, OK, and what is AB 109? Most people wouldn't know.A search of public records reveals Cervantes has a long criminal history and was out on AB 109 when that shooting happened.
A man was sentenced Friday to 63 years to life in prison for shooting a pregnant woman in 2013.
Ruben Cervantes was found guilty in November on three counts, including two for attempted murder.
"The defendant was upset with the victim, she was pregnant at the time, he did not want her to keep the baby," said Deputy District Attorney Tamara Tuivaiti, "so he shot, trying to kill her and the baby."
The woman and baby both survived, but the woman was paralyzed.
"The victim will be permanently paralyzed, she's still being fed through a tube," said Tuivaiti. "She attempts to live life and take care of her baby, but the baby is alive and healthy."
And why is AB 109 complicit in this? After all, we are repeatedly told that it was not about early release, it was just about less restrictive confinement for "non-serious, non-violent" inmates.
Guess what. We got lied to. But you have to know the details to understand why. As explained down the page in this story:
[S]everal local law enforcement officials, including San Bernardino County sheriff's SMASH gang deputies, are concerned with what they see as loopholes that they say have allowed high-risk offenders back on the streets under local supervision. The most glaring has to do with an inmate's criminal background.
Under the Realignment Plan, only an inmate's current conviction is taken into account when being placed on community supervision, not their entire criminal history.
In a recent case out of Redlands, a convicted murderer was placed on probation through AB 109 because his most recent conviction was for taking a vehicle without the owner's permission. He was arrested by Redlands police on suspicion of kidnapping and robbery after he allegedly forced a man at gunpoint to take money out of his bank account.
The unpleasant fact of the matter is that we get lied to about the actual workings, and the costs, of going softer on crime and sentencing. It's the only way the program (most recently in California, Prop 47) can be sold.
Leave a comment