Legal News

OC deputies union sues to cease early inmate release

By Richard Binder

Last week, a judge in Sacramento County issued a temporary restraining order halting the release of the inmates under the new state law. The union representing sheriff's deputies in Orange County is hoping for a similar resolution to the lawsuit it filed yesterday.

The union called the releases a threat to the public and deputies alike, citing recent cuts to the department's staff. The attorneys representing the union argue that the law was meant to affect state prisons only. 

Sheriff departments across the state have applied the law differently.  Many inmates were released by counties that interpreted the law to mean that inmates could earn time off their sentences retroactively, resulting in some early releases that in one case cited by the Orange County suit proved nearly calamitous.  Kevin Peterson was released early from his four-month sentence in Sacramento, only to be arrested hours later for allegedly attempting to rape a woman.

Yesterday afternoon, California Attorney General Jerry Brown issued a bulletin to law enforcement agencies that said the law should not be applied retroactively, but the clarification may have come too late. 

Click these for details.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 17, 2010 (boomark / email).