Insanity in Sacramento

This week I slapped a mosquito that landed on a wall in our house and something happened that I’ve only heard of: it exploded in blood on the hand I used to slap it. After being grossed out I realized that the dead bug and that blood reminded me of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Late last month, the governor pardoned 13 former prisoners and prepared the commutation of 21 sentences. One of those proposed commutations is of personal significance; he is the killer of my sister-in-law’s sister.

Back in 1980, Tom Waterbury allegedly told his girlfriend that she’d have his house by Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve he shot and killed his wife, Debbie Bailey Waterbury, then shot himself to make the crime look like a home invasion. It didn’t take long for detectives to figure out that Tom was guilty as sin and there was no home invasion like he claimed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole plus a two-year enhancement for the firearm use.

That was in the early 1980s. This past June, Gov. Newsom commuted the sentences of 21 inmates who will now appear before the Board of Parole Hearings, which will decide if these felons are fit to be released into society.

Tom is not the only murderer, by the way, whose sentence was commuted by the governor. Looking over the list of the other “gems” that Newsom feels are appropriate to release, most either killed someone or were involved in the murder of someone and were serving life without parole sentences.

And how did the families of the murdered victims react to the news that the killer of their loved one might be released? Well that would depend if the families monitor the murderer in jail because it appears that the families (at least in the case of my sister-in-law) don’t know the killer might be released. It is only through the diligent monitoring of Tom by a family member that his possible release became known to the family. They were not officially notified.

Maybe someone should tell the governor that the grief felt by a family when a loved one is killed never goes away even after a conviction is handed down. A conviction might close the chapter but it doesn’t end the mourning and sense of loss. The devastation of having to fight all over again to impress officials to keep a killer locked up is bad enough but when one is given life without parole you’d think it is not something that would have to be done again. Yet those 21 families will have to decide if they’re up to fighting again.

Thankfully, the family of Debbie Bailey Waterbury has the wherewithal to fight again and have made their voices heard. Spectrum News 1 and the Los Angeles Times are both doing stories about Debbie, Tom and the insanity of the governor’s choices. Mary O’Keefe is also preparing a story after talking to the family. It’ll be in the Aug. 6 issue.

Finally, while I understand that in many ways we are figuring out the “new normal” does it include releasing dangerous convicted felons to an unsuspecting public and the senseless reigniting of pain for countless families?

Like the blood from that mosquito, Gov. Newsom will have blood on his hands if he releases these criminals and they kill again.

  robin goldsworthy