Article Author:
Associated Press
Don Thompson
Sacramento, CA (AP) — Charged with hijacking a school bus full of California kids and demanding a $5 million ransom The last three men convicted in 1976 were released by a state parole board in what prosecutors called "the largest mass kidnapping in U.S. history."
Gov. Gavin Newsom said a previous commission denied him parole 17 times in March, after two commissioners recommended his release. Year-old Frederick asked the board to reconsider its decision to release Woods on parole. However, the Board of Directors confirmed its decision.
Woods and his two accomplices, brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld, killed his 26 men near Chowchilla, some 201 kilometers (125 miles) away. was from a wealthy San Francisco Bay Area family when he kidnapped a child and a bus driver. ) southeast of San Francisco.
The three took their children, ages 5 to her 14, with a bus driver east of San Francisco with little ventilation, lighting, water, food, or bathroom supplies. Buried in an old moving van. The victims were able to dig their own way more than a day later. used his mobile phone to advise on running a Christmas tree farm, a gold mining business, and a car dealership.
Woods' actions "continue to show he's running for money," Madera said. County District Attorney Sally Moreno opposed his parole.
Moreno said after the ruling that he was angry and irritated "because justice was mocked in Madera County" and that he feared the state of society. And even after he committed that crime and spent time in jail ignoring the law, he still gets out of prison. ''[36][37] Woods was ineligible to attend in person on Tuesday, but at his parole hearing in March he felt he needed money to be accepted by his parents, saying, ''It was selfish at the time. I was immature," he said. His most recent transgression was to benefit a trust fund left to him by his late parents.
"I didn't need the money. I wanted the money," Woods said of his ransom attempt.
His attorney, Dominic Banos, said Wednesday that the parole board recognized that Woods had "demonstrated a change of character for the good," and said, "The risk remains low and the prison will be released." He posed no danger or threat upon release from the community.
Three former inmates who served time with Woods urged parole officials to release him, but four victims or their relatives accused Woods of misconduct in prison. said it shows that Woods still considers himself privileged. Several of Woods' victims have previously supported his release.
Her then 10-year-old Lynda Carrejo Labendeira said that when "a makeshift dungeon-like coffin was collapsing," children fled under flashing flashlights and candles. I remember how I struggled.
"You can't just pick random flashbacks every time you see a van like the one we were transported to," she told the board.
"I have insomnia and can't sleep through the night," she said. "I don't sleep so I don't have to have nightmares."
Jennifer Brown Hyde, who was nine years old at the time, recalled: "[56][57] ``His heart is still evil and he's trying to get what he wants,'' she told the board. "Because of his sense of entitlement, I would like him to serve a life sentence in the same way that I have served my life to deal with PTSD.
She told her family on Wednesday is disappointed, but said, "It's time to close this chapter and continue living the blessed life I've been given." She called her fellow hostages "true survivors, not victims."
An appeals court released Richard from prison in 2012, then the government.Jerry Brown released James on parole in 2015.
Newsom acknowledged that Woods would be considered, both because he was only 24 when he committed the crime and because he is now older. Woods, who once studied police at his college in the community, also said he was taking steps to improve himself in prison.
The governor's late father, State Judge William Newsom, joined a panel of appeals in 1980 to commute the man's life sentence and give him the opportunity to parole. After he retired, he sought their release in 2011, noting that no one was seriously injured during the kidnapping.
