Paroled at 50: The Sex Offender Loophole

0:00A woman gets a call at work. It's the DA's office, letting her know about a parole hearing. Jennifer's world absolutely stops. A man who raped her at ninth point while her two-year-old son slept in the next room, was sentenced to 56 years to life. She was told he'll be locked up until 2051. But this isn't 2051. In 2020, California quietly slipped a law into a budget bill, not a prison bill, not a criminal bill, a budget bill, no hearing, no debate. And this is a bill that calls anyone over 50 elderly and allows violent offenders to qualify for parole after just 20 years, no matter what their sentence was.

1:04Now, supporters swore rapists. Swore violent offenders would be excluded. They were not. And Sacramento, the Capitol in California still won't fix it. Now, serial rapists, some with 500 year sentences are getting out. Survivors are blindsided by a phone call, and the board of parole hearings is making their decisions behind closed doors. No public hearing, no appeal. And if you're thinking, hey, this isn't my problem, I don't live in California. Well, think again. When these men are released, they don't have to stay in California. They can move anywhere, including your neighborhood. And with states across the country facing budget shortfalls, California's solution to empty prison beds by releasing elderly inmates is exactly the kind

2:10of model other legislatures are going to be looking at. Now, today, Jennifer's going to share her story. Sacramento County District Attorney, Tin Ho, explains how this law works. And Judge Rosemary Aquilina, who has been firsthand looking at this kind of thing for a long time, an absolute trendsetter is going to explain how Michigan handles violent offenders and aging sect offenders after release. Now, all of these folks are going to join us to question why California doesn't come up with an answer instead of loosening the rules. Why aren't we looking at states that got it right? Now, Jennifer, take me through the moment that your phone rang. What went through your mind when you received that call? I had to have her repeat it a couple times because I couldn't believe what she was saying. The words up for parole, I was in shock.

3:14I was at work at the time. And I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was promised that he would remain in prison. And this phone call reopened all the wounds. And it was shocking. And I was heartbroken. I was scared. I was terrified that this man could be out walking among us in a couple months. And of course, it's relevant to you because you were in the victim. And now this person could be out on the street knowing that you're the one that filed the charges, pressed the charges. And he can see this as you being the one that put him behind bars and seek retaliation, revenge, come after you in some dimension way that it was not his fault that he

4:21was in prison for committing a crime, but your fault because you complained about it. Right. That is definitely a fear of mine. I know this person. And I know what he's capable of. And for a long time, he was denying what he did to me. And when he finally admitted it, yes, he admitted it. And yes, he was serving his time. But the thought of retaliation, if he was to get out, go back to his old ways. And yeah, and come after me. I live in a neighborhood where the crime happened. Anyone is easily accessible to be found. And yeah, that was that was a huge, huge fear of mine as the retaliation that he would come after me again. You say he denied it for a while.

5:22This happened at KnifePoint, correct? Yes. And as you say, with your child in the other room. So when this is violent, involves a deadly weapon, he's got a knife that he's using at the time. It's a little hard to come up with any other theory. And let your some kind of I don't know any social personality, some kind of narcissists, some kind of criminal that distort things in a mind to the point that they're just mainly emotionally unstable. And that's that's part of what you're dealing with here. Yes, he claimed that what had happened was consensual and you know, put people's mind about what actually happened. And yeah, I knew that I was I was going to fight him and and I was wasn't going to let him get away with this.

6:25Clearly, this had an impact on you. And it's always difficult for rape victims who go to trial. I've spent a lot of my career in the litigation arena. I've seen what rape victims have to go through, how they're attacked, their personal values, their morality, their history, all is attacked. What effect did all of this have on you in the years since this has taken place? Initially, I was ready to fight. I was ready to fight. I was ready to face him in court. I was ready to have him pay for what he did to me. That strength and that determination came with a lot of downfalls. I couldn't really deal with the actual pain and hurt humiliation terror that was inside of me. And I myself developed a

7:28addiction to alcohol and drugs. And it was a way for me to at first start to feel normal and socialize with my friends and act like like a normal person. I had never known anyone who had gone through this. And I just wanted to live my life and be with my friends and have fun and laugh. And the only way I was able to do that is to be under the influence. And I spent 16 years with a severe alcohol addiction. And I didn't realize until 2017 when I went to rehab and I made the decision to get sober. I came to the terms with I had been numbing myself for all that time. So from 2002 all the way until 2017, I was numbing myself. I never got down to the root of

8:29what I was actually feeling. I was dying inside. And nobody knew. It's a hard subject to talk about. It's a sensitive subject to talk about. And it's a very lonely place to be. And I had to get to the root of what was actually happening and get to the core of what I needed to fix in myself. And this wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault. I'm no longer embarrassed by what happened to me. Once I stopped numbing myself from all the pain and all the hurt, I was able to begin to heal myself. And that's what I've been focusing on. And I'll be nine years over this year, which is great. And it's been life changing for me. And it's allowed me to heal and to use my voice and to hopefully help other people as well.

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10:40At the parole hearing, you delivered a powerful victim statement explaining why he should stay in prison. And then the board commended him and said, all the safeguards are in place. No red flags. What did you think when you heard that? I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had a friend with me that day and I had to ask her, what are they saying these things? There's no red flags. All I heard was red flags. There was, there's a long history of criminal behavior with this person. He's been in and out of jail since he was a teenager, committing crimes. He not only attacked me, but there was also another victim as well. In prison, he was not rehabilitating himself. As he was claiming to be, he was committing crimes in prison. He was using heroin. He was

11:42circumventing restitution. He was breaking into secure areas that he wasn't supposed to. It was just multiple things that to me was a red flag. And to hear them say that there was no red flags was, it was disgusting to me. It felt like I was being slapped in the face and it was disgusting to me. The record shows that he's been sober for two years, which is after he found out that he might be eligible for this kind of early release. Only then did he start working on sobriety after 40 years of addiction. He had been caught with heroin in prison, watching pornography, committing violations. The prison psychologist diagnosed him with anti-social personality disorder and paraphealing disorder, which is a permanent sexual disorder. I understand it at the hearing,

12:45he himself said, if he really lapses, quote, there would be more victims. Why do you think the prison board ignored you, ignored his history, and decided to listen to whatever voice in their heads? I don't know. And set a release date for him in January of 26th. I feel, I honestly feel like their minds were made up before the hearing began on paper, and the criteria for this law that was passed is serving a consecutive 20 years, being over the age of 50, and posing a low risk to society. So first of all, he posed a moderate risk to society, found by a psychologist. The age of 54 is not elderly in my eyes.

13:50I really believe that they had their mind made up, and I understand that people don't know this person. So on paper or the way he's presenting himself in the parole hearing, he's saying all these things that sound like he's rehabilitating himself, and saying all the things that he thinks people want to hear. I'm not sure that's the main, that's a huge question I have is why they didn't hear what was being said, and why they didn't hear me, and why they didn't understand that this is a legitimate fear if this man is released from prison. It's a huge question I have of why they claim they saw no right flags. Well, yeah, I guess it is a big question. Mr. District Attorney, what do you make of this? Well, broken laws lead to broken promises

14:50and broken lives, and that's exactly what we have here. This law, as you mentioned, Dr. Phil was passed without any transparency in the dark of night, slipped into a budget bill without any hearing where victims and victim advocates and prosecutors could stand up and point this out. And it started with a broken promises. The legislators told us that violent sexual offenders will be excluded from this law, and then they went back on their word, and they broke that promise, and this is a result of it. It's a broken promise to our victims that I've had to make that phone call to a victim. When I promise them that they will never have to attend a parole hearing, that they'll never have to be afraid of their offender seeing the light of day and being free. And then now that promise has been broken. And so it's heartbreaking to see this. And so we've been fighting it, I've been fighting it at every single step of the way because I spent years prosecuting sexual

15:55offenders, and it's heartbreaking to hear Jennifer's story. It absolutely is. This is what's their explanation? Because the deal was, and I'm not sure that it was a good deal, even with violent sex offenders excluded, but I understand if, you know, if people are truly elderly, they're in firm, they're no threat to society, and there's compassionate release, and the judge can comment on that here in just a minute. But I understand there are certain circumstances where society is better served. If somebody is given some compassionate release, maybe it's better for the taxpayers, maybe it's better all the way around. But 50, I have a hard time looking at 50, I can't even remember 50. So I sure as hell don't think about it as being elderly. And, but they made a deal and said, if this thing goes into law, violent sex offenders will not

17:05be part of it. They will be excluded. And then they weren't. What did they say when you confronted them about that? You know, this is really an agenda that was in place to pass this law. We already have compassionate release, meaning those that are extremely elderly and in firm and on their debt bed get to be released. Then they created another way for violent offenders to get out of prison. And yet they promise us that it wouldn't include sexual offenders. And what did they do? They went back on their word, they broke their promises, and this is what we have. And so I prosecuted, you know, the Golden State Killer who committed, you know, multiple murders and race. My office prosecuted the North Cow rapist. And these violent individuals like the North Cow rapist, he has the potential getting out because he wasn't caught until much later. And he's still young, 50 is young. And they can still commit their crimes.

18:06Country music stars Maddie and Tay open up about the deeply personal decision that stunned their fans and sent shock waves through country music. For the first time, they talk candidly about motherhood, friendship, career changes, and what happens when one chapter closes and another begins. Maddie and Tay, like you've never heard them before, Thursday on the Dr. Phil podcast. This North Cow rapist, Roy Waller, he had nine victims across six northern counties from 91 to 2006. He learned the victim's names, he studied their routines, he broke into their homes, he tied them up, he targeted young Asian women. And he made a study of this. The jury was only out two and a half hours and he was sentenced almost 900 years. That sentence was reduced, I think 40 years or something like that. But under this law, he could walk. I'm not saying

19:10he will or could, but he's 65 years old now. So under this, he theoretically could walk out that prison door and be right back out on the street. Absolutely. And that's the travesty of this particular law. It allows these individuals that are sentenced essentially to a life term of 900 years to get out. And what's worse is the promise that we made to victims that they would never have to go to a parole hearing. That's the promise that we made them. That's the promise that courts and the system made them. And now that promise is broken because in a certain number of years, they will now, like Jennifer, have to go in front of a parole board and argue their case to make sure that this Biden offender doesn't get out. And so we have a broken law that has led to broken promises and broken lives. And how many thousands of pages of documents? How many thousands of man hours did you have to put in to convict the North Cal rapist, the Golden State

20:10killer? I mean, how many thousands of pages of documents and man hours go into those convictions to have somebody to just scribble a name and let them walk out the door? What do you say to yourself about that? It's countless. We're going to say killer, for example, that involved three million pages to discovery, 67 sexual assaults, 120 burglies and 13 murders in 11 different counties. And you already talked about essentially the North Cal rapist who is eligible under this law. But more than that is the impact on the victims. Less we not forget the victims. Judge, you have taken the time to give victims a voice, to give them the opportunity to stand up and to render the kind of justice that dedicated prosecutors like district attorney, how to fights for in your court. But even someone as dedicated as you and for anybody that doesn't

21:16know, the judge was the one that sentenced Larry Nasser and gave so many victims over 150 survivors their voice in court, not even you in doing the things that you could do from the bench can fight against this legislative insanity. What are your thoughts about this, Judge? I have so many, but really what California has done is put the predators in charge. And they made a deal that was not upfront from the beginning because you cannot legislate that in a budget bill. So, you know, we need to get voters out there and victims to run. But what needs to happen is California needs to rethink and look at what Michigan does, which we look at, we have compassionate release. It's low severity score, nonviolent behavior, no first degree life offenses for homicide or rape. And we at least release when people are too ill to cause harm and we look at

22:23lethality factors. California is not looking at lethality factors. They're not looking at the fear of the victims. They have essentially said we don't care about you victim. We care more about money. Money is the topic here. This was intentional. It was not an accident. How they passed this. So, do you think this is just a money play, Judge? Absolutely. At 50 years old, look, I've had exactly what Jennifer fears. I had a 50 year old. It was people versus Brian Preston Farmer. And he was on parole. And he raped another woman who was 41 years old and mentally disabled. And he liked to hug tie and rape his women. And that's exactly what he did is the minute he got out on parole. He was 50. I sentenced him now to another hundred years. Okay. I hope he doesn't get out. Under Michigan, he won't get out. Under California, behave a few years, he gets out and he'll do it again. This happens again and again. And victims should be fearful and all the healing

23:26they've done goes backward. The trauma lives in the body as you know, Dr. Phil. And I want to thank Jennifer for sharing her story and for you for highlighting this, because the sad part is money talks. And when other states look at California and say, wow, they're saving money, they may very well follow suit. No one is immune from this kind of legislation, so we all need to speak out. With a judge like you that steps up and holds people accountable and district attorney that will spend the work put in the man hours and actually prosecute criminals for crimes, it seems like we've got a justice system in place that has the moral compass and is doing what the public wants done. But then the legislature tax something like this onto a budget bill with no public hearing, no transparency. And then you have other states that clearly will,

24:30they look at states like New York, they look at states like California and say, hey, if the big guys are doing it, then you know, why not just follow along with what they're doing, they can empty their presidents, they can save money, they can get people out of their hair and back onto the street. This isn't just a California problem. You'll see other states doing exactly the same thing. And we do have other states, but at least so far, they don't consider elderly at 50. District attorney, Luis Ana has 60, Maryland has 60, Georgia's 62, and about New Jersey, New York, North Carolina has 65 and up, Texas to the CE 65 and up, Virginia, 70 and up, California, 50. I can tell you from a psychological standpoint, particularly with a paraphernalia disorder, these people can still be at risk and research bears that out. So as a district attorney, what are

25:36your options? Well, first of all, to your point, I prosecuted the golden state killer. We didn't catch him until he was 72. And I have video footage of him in his jail cell at the age of 72, watching a female worker outside of his pod and he's watching her and he's masturbating to her at the age of 72. So these individuals, regardless of their age, these predators still pose a threat and 50 is a young age. So what are we doing right now? A couple of things. First of all, I have my prosecutors going to the parole hearings, fighting on behalf of the victims and the survivors, making sure that we do everything we can to oppose the release of these predators. Second, I also have a dashboard where I publicly list these individuals that have been let out on elderly parole so that the public knows what's happening and that we don't hide from it so that we have transparency. And the third thing is I continue to advocate in the legislatures for changes in the law because

26:42you're right. 50 is way too young. I'm in my early 50s. I still feel young. And so many of us, as well as you do, believe that 50 is too early, let us make sure that we pass laws that don't break promises so that we can protect the public. What do you think is the thinking of the people that they could possibly release? Here's a guy that did not have good time in prison. This guy was doing heroin. He was using pornography. He was violating prison policy. This was not a model prisoner. And he was a violent sex offender. There had to be a thousand other people that they could have put up for this instead of him. And they say, Jennifer, they said no red flags. Why in God's name are they letting this guy out? You sat there and heard them commend him for being a good

27:46candidate for this. What did you think when they said that and you're sitting there? I was disgusted and I didn't understand. I still don't understand and I don't think I will ever understand or get the answer to the question that I'm asking. And I go back to, I think they had their mind already made up. And they were dismissing these key parts of reasons why he should not be released. High level offenders cost a lot of money. So again, there's that money factor. I think they already had their, you'd like you said, their mind made up because they had their their marching orders. Here's how much money we need to save. This is what this prisoner costs. Let's just release them. So what's the difference between money spent on a high level, detainee and and someone that is in a low security? What's it costing a state on an average basis? I don't know. Maybe the prosecutor knows the numbers. I do know it's thousands and thousands. It

28:50costs probably double when you have someone who's high risk because they're in isolation. They need more people around them. The low, low risk, they're in general population and it's significantly cheaper. So what they've done is they've let a high risk person go. And my question to those legislators, every single one of them is, why don't we have those people you release live next door to you? How comfortable would you feel? Because the rest of us are not comfortable. And Dr. Phil, I'll say this, the conversation about costs, what is really the cost to victims? What's the cost to a survivor? What's the cost to society in letting these individuals out? We're always talking about money, but let's for a moment talk about the human cost. And that is something that we really need at the end of the day to bring back to it. I've been at these parole hearings and we need to really identify and call out these parole officers for the decisions that they make. They oftentimes come in with an agenda with their minds made up. And at the end

29:53of the day, let's not forget the cost to the victims. And let's bring it back to that because you cannot put a fiscal cost on that. I agree with you, but it's a legislative problem because it's money driven. So they've got their marching orders and they all goes back to the legislature who did this behind closed doors. And they knew exactly what they were doing. So we need to have people run against them. And I hope that some victims who are in the process of healing run and change this law because without that, everyone's going to suffer. Jennifer, let me ask you straight up, this is not just being history, Anakin, melodramatic. Do you believe that this man being back on the street that you are at risk? Yes, 100%. And then not only me, any woman that crosses his path. And yeah, I am scared that this will happen. And I will, I'm already living in fear.

30:54I'm already watching my back. I live in a neighborhood where his family currently resides. And I'm constantly having to watch my back. And I will, I will be at risk. And like the judge, Judge Rosemary said, you know, we're giving a lot of power to these predators. And they need to start listening to us. And how it's affecting us, how it's affecting our, our whole being. And I, it doesn't get lost on me that I'm not the only one that's going through this. And a lot of women are afraid to speak up and they're afraid to say something because of how society has put a stigma around this. And yeah, I think, I think people need to open their eyes and see that this is a problem. And everybody will be at risk if this man is released. If you look at California's own numbers out of 1922 sex offenders, 20.7% had a conviction rate within 30 years. And we're

32:03talking about the California sex offender management program. And 79.3% remained conviction free. That didn't mean they didn't reoffend. It just means they hadn't been caught. But 20.7% were convicted again within three years. So that's one in five. 12.1% had a felony offense that they were convicted of. 8.6 a misdemeanor. And then if you add into that substance abuse recidivism, which is a major risk factor for reoffending. And you start getting the interactive effects. Who knows. And you add the age factor in the older they get. Of course, you know, maybe that slows it down some. But as you say, at 72, you've got an offender looking out his window and masturbating just to the woman across the way. So if you look at these cases

33:07individually, they're clearly are red flags here. You got a 40 year addiction profile. You've got a diagnosis of parapheria, which is lifetime. You've got any social personality, which is a disregard for rules. A sense of entitlement, a lack of feeling of remorse. There are so many complicating factors and red flags here. To me, from a psychological standpoint, this looks like the big finale on the 4th of July. I mean, this looks, I see red flags lighting up the sky. This guy would be at the bottom of the list. You give me 1,000 candidates. This guy would be way at the bottom of the list. District's Ernie, am I missing something here? You're not missing anything at all. They're red flags all over the place. This particular individual that sexually assaulted Jennifer should never even have a parole here. I know that in that particular

34:11situation, the former district attorney of Alameda County, which is the jurisdiction where it happened and where it occurred, Pamela Price was advocating for his release and was advocating those sort of individuals to be released. She's no longer there. She got recalled by the voters of that particular county. We need to hold the line in regards to public safety when it comes to pedophiles, child molesters, and serial rapists. We need to change the law at the end of the day. We need to go back and make sure that we up the age. We got to go back and make sure that certain people are not eligible for the elder parole. It's a broken law that is led to broken promises and broken lives. We need to fix it. It's encouraging to me that the Alameda County District attorney did get recalled because it tells me that the public is paying attention. What contribution did her support of this kind of thing have in her recall? And a direct impact. That and other

35:15policies that she implemented that really hurt victims, oftentimes victims from communities of color. And victims who have been, their lives have been shattered by violence and it directly led to her recall. And the new district attorney is one who is, was a former judge who believes in public safety. And so this is the sort of impact that we have on our society when we have these broken laws with broken promises. Judge, what can judges do in these counties where these releases are ill-advised but are done? What can judges do to get this back under control? I mean, if releases are made that shouldn't be made, chances are pretty good that they're not going to follow the rules. They're not going to adhere to their parole guidelines. Can judges communicate with the parole officers and let them know that they're going to be monitored

36:16and that they want them to be held to strict compliance? We can do that. We can write letters. We can show up at those hearings. I think more important we need to work with the legislature to make changes but also to make a better record at the time of sentencing so that that can be attached to the letter to see so that the parole board can see exactly what happened. I think they are not trained. They don't know the legality factors. They're looking again at the dollars at whatever their walking orders are not at each individual case, not at what happened to the victim, not at the victim's statement. So we can put more information in front of the parole board. But the problem is, once I sent in someone, I lose them to the Department of Corrections and I really have no control unless the victim calls me and says he's calling me from prison and then I will call the warden and say, stop that communication. Other than that, our hands are really tied but we can make better records to put more information in front of the parole boards and soak in the prosecutors.

37:18And I think we need to just band together and put that information and then say, how dare you? How dare you shut down a victim? How dare you make us unsafe in our own communities in our own homes? I'm appalled that this has not been fixed now to make the accurate record here. He was not released on January 26th. There's another hearing set for April of this year. District Attorney, what will happen at that hearing? Well, the initial recommendation by the parole board was to release them. And Jennifer and the new District Attorney of Alameda County has fought his release. And so it's a continual fight to stop it. And there is an opportunity to stop it from happening from him getting released under this broken law. And so really appreciate you bringing attention to this. And hopefully that additional attention will put pressure to rescind that initial decision to release him under this broken law.

38:20Well, I hope so. Jennifer, what have you heard from the governor's office? I haven't heard anything directly from the governor's office. I do know that after writing, I wrote him letters. I sent him the transcripts of the hearing, begging him to take a second look at it, really dive deep into what this man has done. And he did send it back to the parole board. We did have a hearing on December 23rd that I went to. It was referred back to the entire parole board, which is a member of 12 people, seven women, five men. And I again gave a victim witness statement there. And it was ultimately decided that it would go to a rescission here next, which is it's on April 10th, actually. We did reach out to the governor's office to find out where he stands on this law. And we

39:21didn't get a statement, but we did receive information. And it was just nobody wanted to own it. So I'll tell you what we found out. It only be attributed to the governor's office. They didn't name a spokesperson because they don't think anybody wants to own this, but they've confirmed that governor Newsom reviewed Martinez parole grant, referred it back to the board of parole hearings for an unblocked review under penal code section 3041.1. The strongest action available to him in an on murder case. They say he cannot flat out block parole cases like this. He can only send it back. And the rescission hearing is now set for April 10th of this year, which will be a formal proceeding to determine whether his parole Martinez parole should be cancelled

40:25or postponed. And he has the right to counsel and to call witnesses. And his office acknowledge that Jennifer did not receive initial parole hearing notices. And they attributed this to her not having registered with CDCR's Office of Victim and Survivor Rights Services. But Jennifer, you say you are registered, correct? I am registered, yes. And I have been I didn't get the notification of the first hearing. I believe it was in 2024 that he had waived. So I did not receive notification for that. But I have been receiving notification. I am registered with victim services. So you've done what you need to do. Yeah. And you're just locked into bureaucracy. Exactly. Listen, we're going to follow this very, very closely. And Jennifer, thank you for having

41:25the courage to come and talk about this. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. And district attorney, how God bless you for seeking justice and going after these bad actors. Thank you, Dr. Phil. Appreciate it. I think the four of us need to work this and make sure this doesn't spread across the nation anymore than it already has. Absolutely. Thank you. I appreciate all three of you. And for you at home, we're going to keep you abreast of all this. And I suggest that you find out what the situation is in your county and your state in terms of release of elderly offenders. Find out what how they define elderly and find out who is eligible. Because these people don't come out with a big flag waving to identify who they are. And they can wind up in your neighborhood around your children around you. And we need to make noise about this. And the only way to do that is to stay informed. I appreciate you being here

42:30today. We'll keep you informed on what happens in California because it is a trend setter good or bad. Thank you for being here so long. And don't forget you can watch all new episodes of Dr. Phil on OnVoyTV and OnVoyFast. Just go to OnVoyTV.com for more information.