Release Date:  August 2, 2013
Contact:  Michael Rushford
(916) 446-0345

The U. S. Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling today, which rejected California's request to delay the release of another 9,600 prison inmates until an appeal can be considered, guarantees that more people will become crime victims according to the Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

The victims' group, which filed a "friend of the court" brief on behalf of four former governors supporting the state's request, noted that criminals, no longer eligible for prison due to Governor Brown's effort to reduce overcrowding, have already raped and murdered innocent Californians.

Last December, habitual felon Ka Pasasouk was arrested for the murders of four people in the Los Angeles area community of Northridge. The victims included two women, 24 and 26, and two men, 34 and 49. Pasasouk, on probation at the time, had an extensive criminal history including drug offenses, commercial burglary, assault likely to produce great bodily injury, and two convictions of auto theft. All of these crimes are considered "low level" felonies under Realignment. In January 2012, because his most recent conviction was a drug offense, the new law allowed his release from prison. He was rearrested for methamphetamine possession in September and, as allowable under Realignment, released on probation. He had violated his probation several times with no consequences before he allegedly committed the murders in December.

On April 24, 2013, police arrested Tobias Dustin Summers for the early morning bedroom abduction of a 10-year-old Southern California girl in March. The victim was found 12 hours later wandering near a Starbucks several miles from her home. She had been sexually assaulted. In spite of prior convictions for robbery, auto theft, and kidnapping, Summers was released from prison to county probation instead of state parole under Realignment. He served six days in jail last January for violating probation which, before Realignment, would have resulted in his being sent back to state prison for a year.

"These crimes were committed by ex-convicts, free under Realignment, that the state determined to be a low risk for violence," said Foundation President Michael Rushford. "Now, the state has been ordered to release nearly 10,000 convicts most of which the state considers to be at a higher risk for violence. Only an idiot would not recognize that this means more innocent people are going to become crime victims," he added.

The U. S. Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling today, which rejected California's request to delay the release of another 9,600 prison inmates until an appeal can be considered, guarantees that more people will become crime victims according to the Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

The victims' group, which filed a "friend of the court" brief on behalf of four former governors supporting the state's request, noted that criminals, no longer eligible for prison due to Governor Brown's effort to reduce overcrowding, have already raped and murdered innocent Californians.

Last December, habitual felon Ka Pasasouk was arrested for the murders of four people in the Los Angeles area community of Northridge. The victims included two women, 24 and 26, and two men, 34 and 49. Pasasouk, on probation at the time, had an extensive criminal history including drug offenses, commercial burglary, assault likely to produce great bodily injury, and two convictions of auto theft. All of these crimes are considered "low level" felonies under Realignment. In January 2012, because his most recent conviction was a drug offense, the new law allowed his release from prison. He was rearrested for methamphetamine possession in September and, as allowable under Realignment, released on probation. He had violated his probation several times with no consequences before he allegedly committed the murders in December.

On April 24, 2013, police arrested Tobias Dustin Summers for the early morning bedroom abduction of a 10-year-old Southern California girl in March. The victim was found 12 hours later wandering near a Starbucks several miles from her home. She had been sexually assaulted. In spite of prior convictions for robbery, auto theft, and kidnapping, Summers was released from prison to county probation instead of state parole under Realignment. He served six days in jail last January for violating probation which, before Realignment, would have resulted in his being sent back to state prison for a year.

"These crimes were committed by ex-convicts, free under Realignment, that the state determined to be a low risk for violence," said Foundation President Michael Rushford. "Now, the state has been ordered to release nearly 10,000 convicts most of which the state considers to be at a higher risk for violence. Only an idiot would not recognize that this means more innocent people are going to become crime victims," he added.