A recently retired California judge is sharply criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom's criminal justice policies after a convicted child molester was approved for release under the state's elder parole program and then faced new criminal allegations the same day.
Maryann Gilliard, who served nearly 27 years as a superior court judge in the Sacramento region before retiring in August, said laws signed by Newsom have put public safety at risk and called for extraordinary intervention in state governance.
"At this point in time, California needs to be placed into a conservatorship because the person in charge, Gavin Newsom, is a danger to others," Gilliard said.
Her comments followed attention on David Allen Funston, a 64-year-old convicted child molester who was approved for release after receiving three life terms in the 1990s and was later turned over to local law enforcement on a Placer County warrant as he faced new charges, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
CDCR said Funston was scheduled to be released on parole Feb. 26, and that he was transferred to law enforcement officials that morning after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
California's statutory Elderly Parole Program was codified in law in 2018, and eligibility was broadened effective Jan. 1, 2021, when AB 3234 lowered the qualifying age to 50 for people who have served at least 20 continuous years, according to a Board of Parole Hearings fact sheet.
"As a 50-year-old serial child molester, you are eligible [for] elderly parole but still too young for the senior Grand Slam at Denny's," Gilliard said.
"Criminals who were ordered to serve life terms are being paroled because Gavin Newsom and his reckless Board of Parole have given the green light without regard to public safety," she added.
Gilliard also criticized SB 1223, signed in 2023, which expanded California's mental health diversion statute, including by creating a presumption that a diagnosed mental disorder was a significant factor in the alleged offense unless rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, according to guidance materials for California courts.
"If you pistol whip an 80-year-old lady but you're a pothead, also known as 'cannabis use disorder,' all you have to be is in the DSM-5 and it's presumed that was the cause of the conduct," she said.
Newsom's office pointed to declining crime rates and said elder parole decisions are "stringent," while also defending mental-health diversion as a tool aimed at preventing repeat offending, spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo said.
California's statewide violent crime rate fell 6% in 2024 and the property crime rate fell 8.4%, according to the California Department of Justice's annual crime report.
"The biggest crime scene in Sacramento is at the state capital, and someone ought to tape it off," Gilliard said.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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