By Sandy Wells
KABC News
The California’s prisons are awash with felons. Prop 47 has reduced the number of people behind bars since its passage in 2014. Prop 57, another prison-related ballot measure that seeks to increase parole opportunities for inmates awaits the decision of voters on November. But the savage killing of L.A. County Sergeant Steve Owen by a parolee is changing the conversation about “second chances” and prison reform.
“I think it’s time we had a serious conversation,” said LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell at a press conference in Lancaster Thursday. “We all believe in second chances and a chance for redemption. That’s what America’s all about. But there are a limited number of chances where somebody doesn’t get a free pass to continue to do this type of violent – you know – the violence we see over and over again in so many different cases. There is legislation coming up – or opportunities to be able to vote. I would ask the public that they read those very closely and very carefully, because a lot is at stake.”
McDonnell said the suspected killer, 27-year-old Trenton Lovell, has been arrested 11 times, first as a juvenile on suspicion of selling marijuana, and was jailed or imprisoned twice.
“Not only did the suspect want to kill our deputies, he held two teenagers hostage in a neighboring house until they were rescued by the heroic efforts of our Special Enforcement Bureau and our Lancaster Station personnel. He was subsequently arrested in the surrounding neighborhood without further incident.”
The brutality of the murder of Sergeant Owen along with the background of the suspected killer, may divert the state from its current approach to reforming the criminal justice system and reducing population of the state’s costly prisons.
