PAROLES OF THOSE WHO MURDER POLICE COLD FEED ATTACKS ON OFFICERS

By Craig Lally

Los Angeles Daily News
September 18, 2015

Those of us on the front lines of law enforcement have watched with growing concern as the 2009 federal court order to reduce the population of California’s prison system has stretched our already-overburdened parole system and led to rising crime rates.

Police officers were among the first to express dismay at the ruling and strongly opposed subsequent efforts to de-populate the prisons. We saw 2011’s AB 109 as a simple system for funneling prisoners to county jails and, ultimately, release, and we spoke out against Proposition 47 because we knew it would put many violent criminals back on our streets. Few heeded our warnings then, but the rising crime rates we now see in California are increasingly being tracked back to AB 109 and Proposition 47.

The determination to return incarcerated criminals to our streets has been further expanded by a 2008 Supreme Court ruling making it harder to deny parole to criminals serving life terms who are no longer considered dangerous, opening up a yet another avenue to reduce prison overcrowding. California freed a record 902 “lifers” in the past year, according to the Association for Deputy District Attorneys.

As police officers sworn to protect public safety, we have worked with what the system, the courts, the politicians and the people have given us. However, when a policy shift leads to the early parole of those who murder police, we must strongly protest. The cold-blooded murderer of a law enforcement officer is not just an attack on a human being; it is also a direct assault on law enforcement and on society itself. Allowing parole for anyone who murders an officer in cold blood sends a signal that helps feed attacks on the police like the recent murder of Texas Deputy Darren Goforth.

Two recent decisions to parole life-term-serving murderers of police officers are perversions of the effort to reduce our prison populations, and they must be stopped. First, the shocking news that the man who conspired in the murder of Los Angeles Detective Thomas Williams in 1985 had been deemed fit for parole came virtually out of nowhere. When his parole was denied last year, the panel said he would not be eligible for another parole hearing for three years. Despite these facts, a hearing panel of only two parole board members granted Voltaire Williams parole on Aug. 4.

Likewise, Jesus Cecena, who murdered San Diego Police Officer Archie Buggs in 1978, was granted parole on Aug. 28. In Cecena’s case, the release was related to his underage status when the brutal murder was committed. He was four months away from his 18th birthday.

It is inconceivable that in any rational system either man could be paroled. Detective Williams died protecting his son, taking eight bullets from a fusillade of automatic rifle fire. Officer Buggs was shot six times, the last time execution-style with a bullet to the head when the officer was already down.

These paroles should be stopped. The parole board has up to 120 days to consider whether to allow or stop a parole. Gov. Jerry Brown, who as attorney general in 2009 strongly protested the court order forcing our prisons to release felons, then has 30 days to overturn the parole board’s decision. As a final check on a system that has gone terribly wrong, we call on the governor to deny parole for Voltaire Williams and Jesus Cecena.

Craig Lally is president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League.