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Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) today voted ‘No’ on all five California Board of Parole Hearings commissioners reappointed by Governor Gavin Newsom and brought before the Senate Rules Committee for confirmation, citing their secret votes to release violent sexual predators and their refusal to be held accountable for those decisions.
"These commissioners sat across from violent predators who described in detail their fantasies about rape, pedophilia and murder and they still voted to release them back onto our streets," said Jones. "They made these decisions behind closed doors with no public record and no accountability. Newsom had a chance to act. He could have fired them. He chose instead to reappoint them and ask the Senate to rubber stamp it. I refuse to go along.”
During today's confirmation hearing, Jones directly confronted the commissioners over their vote to release David Funston, a convicted serial child predator sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. The sentencing judge called Funston "the monster parents fear most," stating there was "no man on the face of this earth who deserves this sentence more." Funston lured children as young as three years old into his vehicle with candy before brutally assaulting them. According to hearing transcripts, Funston told commissioners he still had urges to harm young children. The commissioners voted to release him anyway.