Thirty-two had been sentenced to life in prison without parole. Rendon, elected to the Assembly in 2012 and as Speaker in 2015, doesn’t tell many people about his brother-in-law. Two brought guns. Jerry Brown’s grant of clemency to the brother-in-law of Speaker Anthony Rendon underscores not just Brown’s thinking, but California’s evolution on crime and punishment. The People's Vanguard of Davis Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) to a policy hearing in his house, making it all but certain the measure would not be acted upon in 2017. A new initiative wants to change that, Bloomberg: Covid-19 Relief for Undocumented Would Boost the Economy for All, Sac Bee: Newsom signs law to give more undocumented Californians a tax break worth hundreds of dollars. Instead, he reads or works on his laptop at a nearby Starbucks. [11] He worked with the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation in early childhood education efforts.

Within a decade and a half, that thinking would change. "Victims and their families should not be blindsided when a request is made for a sentence to be commuted," Brown's spokesman Evan Westrup said after Brown signed the bill. At the time, that was not how the law worked – the law worked that if you were involved and didn’t do anything to stop it, you were responsible. Through that lens, Brown's decision was a study in the forces that shape the law and its enforcement—and of a question that has haunted and cost not just politicians like Rendon and Brown, or criminals and victims like Lam and Sievert, but also generations of Californians: How do we balance pain and redemption, mercy and safety, society and victims, crime and punishment? Nan-chucks… think those are considered to be deadly weapons… Assault with a deadly weapon?

She is well known for her strategic approach to enhancing and … And, Chan “John” Lam, who admitted he planned the attack on Seivert to impress his girlfriend – Carroll – has had his sentence commuted, while Carroll struggles to gain her freedom. Phone: (916) 970-3131 I can do it too, even if my parents work three jobs,” said Díaz. In the years since Lam and his friends fatally attacked Milo's son, the criminal justice pendulum has swung from a policy of mass incarceration to a view that rehabilitation is a fairer and more farsighted bet. According to Drous’ filings, the group was intent only on “beating up the ‘white boy’ to ‘teach him a lesson’ about using racial slurs” against Asians. I saw it in immigrant families where some people were successful and some weren’t.”. On Christmas Day 2003, Matthew Sievert, the only child of a single mother and California state worker named Stepheny Milo, was removed from life support. But, she will likely prevail. Rendon will open the 2020 legislative year with an infant child at home. She brushed him away twice, then relented. He lives with his wife Annie Lam along with his daughter Vienna Rendon Lam. As he turned on the ignition, Lam and his friends sped up, using their cars to box him in. In Carroll’s case, she was a participant in an assault of her ex-boyfriend in 2003. He would be a grown man now, like Lam, had he survived. Of those, 38 individuals had pulled the trigger, including two who committed double homicides. In February 2018, it would touch then-Gov. Nicole did not strike me as a person who was remorseful about what happened. The centerpiece is Lam’s letter to Brown. ", "He started talking about criminal justice, theological-Jesuit stuff," the Speaker recalled. She didn’t kill him. "There are literally thousands of people who have turned their lives around and are being kept in cages for no legitimate reason, other than that's the law in California.".
Budnick, who gained fame as producer of the "Hangover" movies, has also helped shape the law, as a proponent of sentencing reform, especially for offenders who committed crimes as teenagers.

Another was Lam. Past Latino Speakers have included Cruz Bustamante, Fabián Núñez, John A. Pérez, and Antonio Villaraigosa. Photo by Rich Pedroncelli, AP Photo Why This Fight Fizzled. He has learned carpentry and has been a member of prison groups that did Bible study, restorative justice and gang rehabilitation. He has been at San Quentin, one of the top prisons for rehabilitative programs, since 2012. But here in California’s capital city, most things have – or appear to have – at least a little to do with politics. This new law seems to turn that on its head, and by my understanding of the case, it should be a slam dunk that she gets out, because she had already served nearly the minimum time. Sixteen years is a long time in politics. She had received a special invitation to attend Assemblyman Anthony Rendón, D-Paramount, swearing-in ceremony at the state capitol. Whoops! That's where Rendon and Annie Lam met, though they didn't start dating for several more years. One brought nunchucks. Lam was 17, too, and had been jealous that Carroll had dated Sievert. "I felt like my part was very brief.". Lam's parents are Vietnamese refugees who worked in the fields and at other hard jobs in and around Sacramento to provide for their five kids. After graduating from California High School in Whittier, he attended Cerritos Community College, then transferred to California State University, Fullerton where he earned his bachelor’s and a master’s degree. Beyond that, a comparison of Brown's action on similar cases supports his and Rendon's assertion that Lam got no special treatment. Neither Annie nor I was born with much, but we worked hard, and somehow we ended up here. I don’t want you to be blindsided. "[6] At the age of 20, he enrolled in and attended Cerritos College, a community college in Norwalk, California, before earning a bachelor's degree and master's degree from California State University, Fullerton. Lam, Carroll, Ly and the others drove off. He promised to return in 20 minutes. Actually, I believe my actions were probably worse, because I was the person who got my friends together with the intention of attacking Matthew.". The new law restricts prosecutors’ ability to charge and convict people of first degree murder who, like Lam, didn’t actually pull the trigger. Then, in 2011, came a decision that shifted the dynamics of criminal justice in California.

“We go hammer-and-tong on the issues,” Mercereau said. In those rare instances when I was able to land a job, I worked the graveyard shift in a series of factories and warehouses, always trying to find a way to save enough money to put myself through school, always watching other people get off the bus, excited about their day at college,” Rendón said. … I have no mercy for any of these people,” the mother said. “I worked in gang reduction programs, and saw this a lot. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. It's somebody who is related to me. Annie Lam, diplômée de Beaux Arts de Rennes expérimente depuis 30 ans de… Like I said, earlier, she will likely get a “pass”… despite of all the elements she was uniquely responsible for… or, perhaps you believe she should have never been charged or convicted of any crime? The question now is what the culpability of the woman under the letter of the new law passed last year. Lam could be released this year, 16 years after the murder. Vanguard Sacramento Bureau. Then, in 2011, came a decision that shifted the dynamics of criminal justice in California: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state’s prisons were so crowded that they violated the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. "[6] At the age of 20, he enrolled in and attended Cerritos College, a community college in Norwalk, California, before earning a bachelor's degree and master's degree from California State University, Fullerton. It is a tough subject for them," Rendon said. In a larger sense, though, the murder of Matthew Sievert and its aftermath offer a case history in one of California’s most enduring quandaries. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on the generosity of Californians like you to cover the issues that matter. Driven by a generation of tough-on-crime legislation, California’s prison population that year stood at 172,528, a record high. Drous, in fact, has asked that the action to vacate be “expedited” and Carroll be re-sentenced and probably released for time served. [23] He lives with his wife Annie Lam along with his daughter Vienna Rendon Lam.

Instead, he reads or works on his laptop at a nearby Starbucks. But under SB 1437’s intent, that’s not enough to convict Carroll of murder now, and because the law is retroactive, it is grounds to have that conviction vacated. He’d gone out to a Sacramento park the night before to meet an ex-girlfriend, and had been gunned down. “Mayor Morales and Councilmember De La Riva are efficient, transparent and have changed their cities drastically. He talks of distant relatives who, in family photos, throw gang signs. “He represents a different generation.”. PO Box 4715 Cooc got out last year. “The violence and intimidation shocked me at first, but eventually fear became the norm,” he would later write in a prison newspaper. Rendón’s intellectual curiosity took the better part of him. Will the kinds of decisions they will make affect peoples lives for the better?” said María Hinojosa, journalist and host of NPR’s LatinoUSA. “I felt bad for him. Lam, Carroll, Ly and the others drove off. He also signed transparency legislationrequiring that governors give notice to prosecutors before granting clemency. Maybe Matthew would be living with her now. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time. One brought nunchucks. She's a consultant now focusing on mentoring Asian Americans. You took my life," she said. The “boys” brought nunchucks into the game… intentionally… obviously at least one brought a gun. They are both young and bring a breath of fresh air and hope to the Southeast portion of Los Ángeles, just like Rendón in Sacramento,” said Díaz. Brown became attorney general and then governor, again. His grandparents immigrated from Mexico to the United States during the 1920s. A man is dead, and you find the case “interesting”… I find it “troubling”. Rendon rose through the ranks of Democratic activism in Los Angeles, not joining the Legislature until two years after Milo’s retirement.
She brushed him away twice, then relented.

"Matthew was my life. They are paying attention to the needs of low-income residents who are often taken for granted. Carroll had been dating an Asian and Seivert had made, she said, several anti-Asian racial slurs, which she told her new boyfriend, Chan (John) Lam. By clicking subscribe, you agree to share your email address with CalMatters to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner.

A man is dead, for what one person says, making “racial slurs”.

“Future generations of kids will look up to him and say, ‘He did it. His murder, though, would touch not only those halls, but some of California’s best-known political figures. Within a decade and a half, that thinking would change. She could be convicted today under that theory,” argued the DA. His grandparents immigrated from Mexico to the United States during the 1920s.