sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/23/MNGS03SUEU1.DTL
With one sentence from the governor, Jeri Becker cleared her final hurdle toward freedom. Becker - a onetime heroin addict convicted of first-degree murder in a 1980 Sausalito slaying - will be released in the next few months after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to review the state parole boards decision granting her parole. The governors decision Monday brought joy to Beckers legion of supporters around the country. This is the very best Christmas gift I could ever have gotten, said Howard Schiffer, a Southern California businessman and one of the organizers of a long-running campaign to free Becker, who has spent much of her 23 years behind bars undergoing a personal and spiritual transformation. I am so glad for so many people who worked on her behalf, who believed in redemption, he said. This is sending out the message that you can change your life, that you can have another chance to contribute to society. To others, Schwarzeneggers role in Beckers release signals a momentous shift from the prior administration of Gov. Gray Davis who was widely lambasted for second-guessing his own appointees on the parole board by routinely overturning parole decisions. In Beckers case, the state Board of Prison Terms granted her parole last year; Davis reversed that decision last October - a month before his re- election. On Monday, Schwarzenegger issued a statement declining to review the decision. Out of 18 cases to date, Schwarzenegger has approved or taken no action in six cases. He has reversed parole in all the other cases except one, which he sent back to the board for additional review. Of the 267 inmates convicted of murder who were granted parole during Davis term in office, he released only eight including three women who said they killed their victims after years of abuse. Its a wonderful victory that the governor is letting the parole board do its job, said Rhonda Findling, a member of the Free Battered Women coalition and a counselor at Santa Rosa Junior College. Schwarzenegger seems to have a more humane stance, hes looking at each case individually. Becker, 52, was convicted following a March 1980 drug deal that went bad on a Sausalito houseboat. Later she returned with a male companion, Bruce Cerny, to pick them up. An argument ensued, the two men wrestled over a gun brought to the boat by Cerny, and Caponio was fatally wounded. According to trial testimony, when Cerny pointed the gun toward Caponios girlfriend, Becker successfully pleaded for her life. Cerny wound up convicted of second-degree murder while Becker received a first-degree conviction. Incarcerated at the California Institute for Women in Corona, Becker will ultimately serve 23 years and four months in prison, said Bill Sessa, spokesman for the Board of Prison Terms. Her release date is still being calculated, but will likely be early- to mid-2004, he estimates. She participated in a lot of self-help programs in prison and has more insight into her responsibility for the crime and the role her drug addiction played in her behavior, Sessa said. In all, shes a far more mature person with far more insight into her own problems and, as a result, we dont believe she would be a threat to the community. Survivors of the dead man, however, believe Becker should remain in prison. It feels like a miscarriage of justice, said Peter Caponio, a Bay Area real estate professional and brother of the dead man.
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