Lompico Crime Story has changed over time

NOTE TO READER: This editorial published in 1989 contains information which was known to everyone who followed this case. Child Protective Services was a suspect organization still smarting from the Ruby Pointer case, in which a mother was raising three feral children, and CPS didn't catch on for years. The hellhole in which Leslie Silvola was raising her daughters stood out as yet another example where neighbors had filed multiple reports of neglect and substance abuse, but CPS didn't intervene until a three year old girl had been fatally assaulted.

This story has been lost. In the new retelling, a mixed up runaway teenager who had never been in the home before that day, has been turned into a remorseless villain, and the meth-selling, baby-sex party hosting welfare mom has been transformed into the innocent, grieving mother who longs for justice. The goal of the historical revisionism appears to be to keep a man in jail 12 years past his sentence. So in the interest of reminding the good citizens of Santa Cruz exactly WHAT transpired in Lompico in late 1988, how the CPS failed to protect that little girl, and what a terrible mother Leslie Silvola was, I'm reprinting Joane Jacobs editorial.

---Becky Johnson, editor

Here is a reprint of Joane Jacobs 1989 editorial:

LAW ON NEGLECTFUL PARENTS PUTS THE BURDEN ON KIDS

San Jose Mercury News (CA) - Thursday, September 7, 1989

by Joanne Jacobs

Article can be found online at:

http://docs.newsbank.com/s/InfoWeb/aggdocs/AWNB/0EB730ACF2DFA362/0D0CB57AB53DF815

MARIHIA Silvola died on New Year's Day, after a 16-year-old boy sodomized her in a bathtub, pushing her head under the water to drown her cries. She was 3 years old.

As the little girl lay dying on the floor of her home in Lompico, in the Santa Cruz mountains, neighbor Gail Levey testified, her mother said, "This is just great! This is all I needed!"

Later, Leslie Silvola, 34, called Levey, who had taken charge of Marihia's sisters, Amber, 2, and Cynthia, 7 months. "She asked about her dogs and her house, never about the kids," Levey said.

Donald Schmidt of Fremont, now 17, was convicted in Juvenile Court last month. Schmidt, himself a victim of childhood sexual abuse, can be held till he's 25, if he gets the maximum sentence.

Marihia's mother was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest to one felony count of furnishing methamphetamine to a minor and a misdemeanor count of child endangerment. The district attorney dropped nine felony charges -- six for furnishing illegal drugs, three for child endangerment -- in exchange for the mother's testimony against Schmidt.

Credited with nearly eight months in jail awaiting trial, Silvola soon will be in a residential drug treatment program. Then she'll be free. And she'll have the right to "reunify" with Amber and Cynthia, now living with Silvola's sister.

Child welfare officials won't discuss the Silvola case, citing confidentiality rules. But Janet Reed, child welfare program manager for Santa Cruz County, said state law gives parents the right to a family reunification plan, unless there is "clear and convincing evidence" of abandonment, serious and chronic mental illness, serious "re-abuse" or neglect after a child has been returned to the family from foster care, or if the parent "has been convicted of causing the death of another child."

A conviction for child endangerment, even if the endangered child was murdered, would not fall under the "causing the death" exclusion, Reed said.

A typical reunification plan in a serious case includes psychological evaluation, completion of a drug treatment program, long-term attendance at Narcanon or Alcoholics Anonymous, maintaining a stable home and showing a stable source of income (welfare counts) for a long period of time, completion of parent education and family therapy, monitored visitation with the children and no record of drug or alcohol arrests, Reed says.

Half of parents in such a plan regain custody after 12 to 18 months, Reed estimates. About 10 to 20 percent of those children end up back in foster care because of subsequent abuse or neglect. "It's not as high as you might think, but it gets higher to the extent drugs were involved in the original problem." Levey, a nurse and the mother of a 4-year-old boy, believes that if Silvola gets her children back -- through a court- approved plan, or simply by picking them up from her sister and leaving the area -- Amber and Cynthia will not survive.

Marihia and Amber used to show up at Levey's house, filthy and hungry. "I'd wash them and feed them." When she had to send the children home, "Sometimes they'd stand outside my window for 15 minutes. They never wanted to go home." Once Levey sent Amber home for a diaper change, she testified in a preliminary hearing. She marked an "X" on the dirty diaper. The next day, Amber was "still wearing the same pajamas, the same diaper."

Levey also testified she saw "at least a half-dozen men" with the girls over the four months they lived next door. One day she asked one of the men if the girls could play with her son. "He said Marihia could come over, but that he needed Amber to keep him company." A few minutes later, Levey testified, she heard screaming.

''Irrefutable" medical evidence showed Amber had been sexually assaulted in the weeks before her sister was raped and murdered, says District Attorney Art Danner. "There's equivocal evidence on the 7-month-old."

Levey called Child Protective Services twice to report that the children were dirty, hungry and neglected. She made follow- up calls. She also reported her suspicions that Silvola was dealing drugs. "They thought I was a crank."

After Marihia's murder, doctors said Amber and Cynthia were on the border of being malnourished, Danner says.

But the CPS investigator who came to the Silvola home before Marihia's death did not find evidence of neglect.

Perhaps that's because the county made an appointment. Marihia's 17-year-old half-sister Lisa told Levey the family had been investigated before, in other places they'd lived, always with advance notice. "Lisa said her mother would tell her to clean the house and dress the kids."

CPS is "already guilty of one murder," Levey charges. "They killed Marihia. They had ample information to prevent her death. If they give back the girls, they will be molested. And they will be murdered."

And Silvola will try to get the girls, Levey believes. "Lisa told me the children were her paycheck. I assume she wants her paycheck back."

I would not accuse anyone of murder, except for the boy who drowned Marihia. It's very tough to walk into a house and prove child abuse or neglect. The standard of proof required to remove children from their home has to be high; the standard of parenting required has to be low. An investigator, especially on an announced visit, can't know for sure what's really happening in that home. But we know now what happened to Leslie Silvola's defenseless children. We know she gave a powerful, illegal drug to a 16-year-old stranger and left him in the bathroom while her 3-year-old daughter sat naked in the tub. (She trusted Schmidt so little that while he was in the bathroom she was searching his pockets to see if he had stolen anything from her.) We know that Marihia is dead.

I don't care if Leslie Silvola kicks drugs and gets an A+ in parenting class. If she gets a second chance, what chance will Amber and Cynthia have?

Memo: Joanne Jacobs, whose column appears on Mondays and Thursdays, is a member of the Mercury News editorial pages staff. Commentary

Edition: Morning Final
Section: Editorial
Page: 7B
Index Terms: CHILD MURDER LOMPICO ANALYSIS OPINION
Record Number: 8903130163
Copyright (c) 1989 San Jose Mercury News

How DA Bob Lee and Ariadne Symons subverted our justice system

by Becky Johnson
June 28 2009

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- Okay class, let's review what we learned about our justice system in Civics class. A person is innocent until proven guilty. A person may not be tried twice for the same crime. A jury finds a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. A guilty person is sentenced and must do their time. Once they have served their sentence, they are said to have paid their debt to society and are freed. They can even vote. Right?

Wrong! Not in District Attorney Bob Lee's roost at the Santa Cruz County Courthouse where all of the above is being turned on it's ear. But first a little history lesson is in order. Former District Attorney, Art Danner teamed up with then Assistant DA Ariadne Symons in 1997 ( Bob Lee was elected DA in 2002 and Symons was elected Superior Court Judge in June of 2008). Their task was to circumvent a ruling handed down by Judge Thomas Black when he ruled Schmidt should be tried by a juvenile court in 1989. Donald Schmidt, who grievously committed rape and murder of a 3 yr old child, was 16 years old, at the time of the crime, and Judge Black ruled that due to his " his limited intelligence and maturity," he should be tried under the Juvenile Justice System.

Schmidt was tried for rape and murder by Judge William Kelsay and convicted on 1 count of first degree murder and 1 count of forcible rape, however, the rape charge was overturned on appeal due to prosecutorial error and a charge of 2nd degree murder was affirmed. Schmidt has been incarcerated ever since. He is now 37, and the oldest ward in the California Juvenile Justice System. Currently he is housed at the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino.

KEEPING A MAN IN JAIL AFTER HE HAS SERVED HIS SENTENCE

Symons, certain that a mistake had been made by trying Schmidt as a juvenile, set out to make sure that the verdict SHE wanted, would be had. She and District Attorney Art Danner, found what the New York Times calls "a rarely invoked state code," and the SENTINEL calls "a little-used provision" Section 1800 of California's Welfare and Institutions code, in order to undo the now-deceased Judge Black's verdict.

Schmidt was taken to court every two years, and tried to determine if he was found to have serious mental problems that impede his ability to control his behavior.

Under this method, Symons tried Schmidt 5 times and was able to extend his time beyond his original sentence another 12 years. During this time, Schmidt has committed no new crime, has been called "a model prisoner" by his handlers, and hasn't even had a write-up since 1994. He has completed high school while incarcerated, now works as the supervisor of a work detail which paints the facility he is in, and has a girlfriend his own age who knows about his past. But you would never know this, to hear Symons talk.

In an National Public Radio interview on July 4, 2005, DA Ariadne Symons confirmed that her goal was to circumvent Black's verdict when she said "that he should in fact have received life in prison."

That interview can be found here.

Lee was quoted in a 2009 New York Times article as saying "We believe he's a psychopath, and we believe he has no regrets or remorse for his conduct."

But is he? Bob Lee is NOT a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. So what have the psychiatrists said? Schmidt's seven-person treatment team at the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino agreed to testify on his behalf, saying he has been rehabilitated. Clinical psychologist, Richard A. Starrett, testified April 17, 2009 before Judge Robert B. Atack saying that while Schmidt was still a danger, "he was not a psychopath".

When Ariadne Symons went before the press in 2005, she said "Once a sociopath, always a sociopath." She claimed that Schmidt had failed to benefit from years of treatment, had never acknowledged his guilt, and had shown no remorse. However, her ONLY evidence was to retell the grisly details of the original crime, minus a few details.

WHAT THE PUBLIC NEVER HEARD

In 2005, Symons did not say that Leslie Silvola, the mother of the murdered child, had plead guilty to 1 felony count of distributing methamphetamine to a minor (Schmidt). She did not say that Silvola had originally been charged with 9 felony counts; 6 for furnishing illegal drugs and 3 for child endangerment. She didn't mention that a neighbor, Gail Levey, had filed two complaints with the Child Protective Services which were belatedly responded to and for which no abuse was found during the single visit they made.

Gail Levey testified at Silvola's hearing in 1989 that CPS "is already guilty of one murder. They killed Marihia. They had ample information to prevent her death."

There was no mention of the missed CPS reports in the 2009 New York Times, the current San Jose Mercury News articles, or the National Public Radio report of 2005. And missing from all three of the SENTINEL's 2009 articles was any report on either the CPS complaints OR that DA Art Danner reported in 1989 that all of the very young Silvola daughters had been sexually assaulted.

It's as though the SENTINEL reporter had no access to the paper's own archives. Or more likely, the reporters exclusively took their lead from Adiadne Symons, who had her own axe to grind and career to build.

DA Art Danner reported in 1989 that both of the surviving young sisters showed "irrefutable" medical evidence of a sexual assault in the weeks before her sister was raped and murdered. Danner also said "There's evidence on the 7-month old." No one in this case contends that Donald Schmidt was ever in the Silvola home prior to the night of the murder. So, the evidence shows that Silvola had been selling methamphetamine out of the home, provided meth and alcohol to minors and adults. All of her three daughters under the age of four had been sexually assaulted. Apparently baby-rape-meth parties were a common event at the Silvola household. Danner also said the girls were suffering from malnutrition as well. In exchange for testifying against Schmidt, Silvola plead to 1 felony and 1 misdemeanor. She has never admitted to her culpability in providing Schmidt with both meth and alcohol that night.

But for Symons, a scared, angry, messed-up 16 yr-old who was under the influence of a powerful, illegal drug which causes hypersexuality, and alcohol, which removes inhibitions, who was left alone in a bathroom by the mother with Silvola's 3-yr-old daughter naked in the tub -- he was to be held accountable for all the blame.

Inexplicably NPR's Richard Gonzales in 2005 reports that Schmidt raped the girl "while Mr. and Mrs. Silvola entertained guests in another room." The court testimony reveals that there was no "Mr." Silvola in the household. No father of the Silvola daughters was anywhere to be found. Instead, those court records claim that while Schmidt was assaulting Marihia, Leslie Silvola, the girl's mother, went through Schmidt's pockets to see if he had stolen anything from her. That is how little she trusted him. But the chaotic and criminal hell the girls were living in was completely sanitized from local news reports. In fact, according to the 2005 NPR report, any culpability by the mother was entirely missing from the report. And no mention is made that he has already served his sentence and has already been held an extra 12 years.

Instead, Leslie Silvola is pitched as the grieving mother, who lost her darling daughter, who she loved and cared for. A little girl who would be alive, happy, and healthy today if it were not for Donald Schmidt.

SENTINEL SANITIZING OF LOMPICO METH DEALER

In an April 30, 2009, SENTINEL article by Cathy Kelly, she quotes Leslie Silvola, the single mother of four daughters from Lompico and who now lives in Michigan :

"He's a very sick person," she said. "I am so afraid if he gets out he will repeat what he did to another child. I don't want to see any parent have to go through anything like this. It's the worst thing to lose a child and the way that he murdered her ...

"It tore my family apart; I'll never get over it."

SENTINEL writer, Kelly continues:

Silvola said she went through years of counseling after the murder and regained custody of her other two daughters. But, she said, she remains "so heartsick I can't stand it.

"She was such a wonderful child," she said. "I'd get up in the morning and she'd help me. She'd get diapers for her little sister and go shopping with me. People were just amazed by her. We'd sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' together every night."

found at: http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_12260136?nclick_check=1


No mention of the evidence of similar sexual assaults on her two-year old daughter, A___, or her 7-month old daughter, C____. Assaults which must have occurred before Schmidt had ever darkened the doorway of her home. No discussion that meth itself, causes hypersexualization.

SWORN TESTIMONY OF NEGLECT AND ABUSE

GAIL LEVEY testified about Marihia's mother, Leslie Silvola in 1989 saying that the Silvola children, including one child in diapers, "would show up at my house filthy and hungry." Levey had also told the CPS that she believed that Silvola was selling drugs out of the house. She was so disturbed at the lack of response by CPS that she testified they were "already guilty of murder. They killed Marihia. They had plenty of evidence to prevent her death."

While the failure of CPS to investigate those complaints was a big story back in 1989, it is totally missing from any current narrative. Schmidt testified in 2005 that his youth was a living hell. He had been sodomized by his biological father, three men from his church, and his foster father. He had dropped out of high school in Fremont, Ca., and become a runaway. As far as he knew, life consisted of meth, alcohol, and the powerful abusing the powerless. When he raped Marihia in that bathroom, he was getting back at all those who had abused him, and modeling what adults were doing in the world that he knew.

CLEAR EVIDENCE OF REHABILITATION

According to Chuck Blanford, a volunteer mentor at the facility in which he is housed, the night Schmidt was arrested for rape and murder was the night his life was saved. The sexual abuse against him stopped. He was able to get the therapy he needed to recover from his own abuse. He was able to mature, to understand what had happened to him, and eventually to admit his crime and show remorse.

Even while still at Juvenile Hall in Felton, Ca., he got a girlfriend his own age. She spoke to him regularly through a glass window, but had no physical contact. He continued to write her after she was moved to a group home.

Because Schmidt is very personable he is well-liked, and women are attracted to him. Symons calls Schmidt's interest in women his own age as "continuing to prey on vulnerable women with small children." She claims this is evidence of predation against children, but it is actually evidence he is not a pedophile, and is able to form mature relationships with adult women.

DA Rob Wade, who took over after Symons was elected Judge, claimed that Schmidt was "manipulative" and "a sexual sadist."

WHAT THE JURY NEVER HEARD

Each jury would be dragged through the gory details of that late December night in 1988, but without revealing the extent to which the mother was also culpable. All they knew is that the mother had been convicted on one felony amphetamine charge and 1 misdemeanor charge of child neglect. They learned nothing of the failure of the CPS to properly investigate. The jurors never heard that the 2-yr-old daughter and the 7-month old daughter both showed physical evidence of sexual assault that Danner called "irrefutable."

All they heard was that this "sociopath" and "predator" was responsible for this reprehensible crime and that only the jurors could keep another child safe from this monster. They put the jurors in an impossible position. Under our system of laws, being tried twice for the same crime, is called double jeopardy, and is illegal. Yet Donald Schmidt has been tried again and again for the same crime: a crime he committed as a juvenile, which involved other adult predators, and which spotlighted the failure of a government agency. The DA's office did it by using a Health and Institutional code 1800 which is rarely used by anyone. They asserted that Schmidt still was dangerous, in direct conflict with sworn testimony from his State-certified treatment team. And that he has no regrets or remorse for his conduct. And they told jurors that WHEN Schmidt re-offends, they will regret any decision to allow his release.

On June 25, 2009, after two hung juries, District Attorney Bob Lee announced that Schmidt would ONLY be incarcerated for one more year ending what might have been back to back hung juries with no end in sight.



____________________________________________________________________________________
SOURCES: NYT "A Killer at 16, and Still in California’s Juvenile Justice System Decades Later" by JESSE McKINLEY April 25, 2009

SJ Mercury News "Returning Kids to Abuser Stupid" by Joanne Jacobs Sept 14, 1989

NPR "A State's Oldest Youth Offender" All Things Considered July 4, 2005 - Richard Gonzales

Santa Cruz SENTINEL "Second mistrial declared in convicted child killer's bid for freedom" By Jennifer Squire 06/05/2009 found at: http://www.insidebayarea.com/california/ci_12525284

TOPIX forum comments provided by two jurors, Schmidt's former girlfriend, his mentor, Chuck Blanford, Leslie Silvola's daughter, Cyndi, and from neighbor, Gail Levey in May and June of 2009

"CA Fights to Keep Adult-labled Psychopathic Killer in Custody"-- April 26, 2009 by TChris of TALKleft

"The shame of medicine: the Depravity of Psychiatry" by George Mason University economics professor Bryan Caplan May 2009 found at: http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/the-therapeutic-state/the-shame-of-medicine-the-depravity-of-psychiatry/

I hate to be defending a crazed-teenage-meth-head-baby-rapist-murderer but....

Donald Schmidt at age 37 NYT photo 2008


After two hung juries, and 12 extra years beyond his sentence,
juvenile murderer set to be freed June 20, 2009


by Becky Johnson
June 13, 2009

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- "You scumsucking windbag" "Sick, sick ...disgustingly ...SICK!" one of my anonymous detractors posted about me in an online forum recently when I wrote that I thought Donald Schmidt, an inmate with the State of California for the past 21 years, should be released.

Why is it when I try to talk about what ACTUALLY happened, people throw fits as if the actual facts of the case weren't relevant? Are they so bereft of any logical argument that they promote censorship of any commentary on the subject other than calling for Schmidt to be dragged out and shot? Why can't I see it differently? After all, I'm just one woman talking.

Donald Schmidt has already served 12 years beyond his sentence and has committed no new crime since he was incarcerated. And furthermore, his psychiatrists say he has been successfully rehabilitated.

As a resident of Santa Cruz County for 30 years, I remember the newspaper reports of the horrible crime in December of 1988. It was very sad when Mariah Silvola was killed. Just like everyone else, I was horrified by the crime and felt HUGE sympathy for her and her sisters. From the reports, it sounded like they were living in a hellhole.

Leslie Silvola, a single mother, lived with her 3 daughters in a cabin in California's "Dogpatch" a.k.a Lompico. Leslie and her 17-yr-old daughter were both addicted to meth-amphetamines. Leslie sold them out of her home. Although SENTINEL reports said that neighbor, Gail Levey, had made reports about neglect at that address, the County's Child Protective Services didn't get involved until Mariah was near death.

Donald Schmidt was a teenage runaway who had been physically sodomized by five different adults before the age of 16. As a result, he was filled with rage, had no skill sets, no guidance from a caring adult, and was a ticking time bomb. He met Silvola's 17-yr-old daughter who brought him to her mother's house where she lived with her two younger sisters. Most likely the mother, an adult, provided meth to Donald, a minor. Meth, for those who are unfamiliar with the drug has a "high" which makes you feel real good. It also causes hyper-sexuality. It's Viagra on speed.

A SHOCKING CRIME AGAINST A CHILD

According to the 1988 SENTINEL reports, Donald found 3 yr-old Mariah in the bathtub and locked the door. There he sodomized her. To prevent anyone from hearing her scream, he submerged her head in the bathtub. She died 2 days later. Leslie Silvola was arrested as well, and wound up serving 1 year in jail. CPS took custody of the remaining Silvola children.

Donald Schmidt was arrested, tried as a minor, and convicted of murder and rape in Judge Black's Juvenile Court. However, the rape conviction was overturned on appeal due to a mistake made by the prosecution. Schmidt was found guilt on a single charge of murder and incarcerated until age 25. Not everyone was happy that Schmidt was tried as minor. One of the most outspoken critics of that decision has been Ariadne Symons of the DA's office.

Symons, who is now a Superior Court Judge, invoked a little-used provision of state law that allows those who have served their sentence to remain incarcerated if they pose a danger to the public beyond a reasonable doubt.

As Head of Trial Operations since 1997 for the Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office, Ms. Symons stated "It is our belief that it is imperative to community safety that Donald Schmidt remain incarcerated. Schmidt continues to attempt to prey upon vulnerable women with young children and has never accepted full responsibility for his shocking crimes".

Well, that's an exaggeration. Schmidt HAS admitted both guilt and shown remorse.
But that was not enough for Symons. She wanted him to admit he was a pedophile as well. On National Public Radio in 2005 she said "One could argue that he should, in fact, have received life in prison." "He refuses to admit the sexual interest he has with children. If you can't admit it, you can't control it. And he won't admit it." It's also telling that Symons is using Schmidt's interest in adult women (she calls it "preying")to prove he is still dangerous at the same time, claiming he is a pedophile but "just won't admit it." Pedophiles are not interested in adult women.

Schmidt, who is very charming and personable, had a girlfriend his own age for a year while in juvenile facilities in Santa Cruz County. Now in San Bernardino, he has been writing and talking on the phone with women his own age, in the hopes of forming a relationship. Most of these women already have a child or two, so Symon plays the "pedophile" card rather than admitting her evidence shows he is NOT a pedophile.

Critics say she has been grandstanding on this case in order to move her own career forward. She has ignored several inconvenient facts to do this. First, she claims that Donald Schmidt and only Donald Schmidt was to blame. Sanitized from the record is the serious abuse Schmidt suffered as a minor which explains his enraged mental state. Abuse for which he has had years of therapy in order to recover. She erases any guilt of the mother who was neglectful, an addict herself, was selling methamphetamine out of the little girl's home, and left Donald alone with her daughter. If Leslie Silvola did provide meth to Donald Schmidt that night, she certainly shares culpability. Finally Symons ignores that CPS had been alerted to problems in the home but had failed to act. Had they investigated when those complaints were filed, Mariah would probably be alive today.

7 STATE PSYCHIATRISTS TESTIFY SCHMIDT HAS BEEN REHABILITATED

Schmidt has had years of therapy to deal with his anger and to develop himself from an emotionally reactive teenager into a logically directed adult. He is no longer on meth. In fact, a panel of 7 psychiatrists at the facility in which he is held, have testified that Schmidt is rehabilitated and can be safely released. According to Chuck Blanford, his volunteer mentor for the past 10 years, Donald hasn't had a write-up since 1994.

Holding him in jail, in the absence of any new crime, is a form of double jeopardy where he is punished again and again for the same crime. For instance,in each trial Symons would make sure jurors heard every excruciating detail of the original crime. This had the effect of putting jurors in an impossible predicament: Keep this man in jail for another two years or face the possibly he might rape and murder a child again. But last I heard, we don't put people in jail for crimes they might do.

DA Wade, who has taken over for Symons now that she is on the bench, referred to a sexual drawing Schmidt made while incarcerated, and upped the ante to call him "a sexual sadist." Wade claims Schmidt has admitted to "violent sexual fantasies" and that "he doesn't know the difference between fantasy and reality." But being a sexual sadist is not a crime unless an unwilling victim is pressing charges. No one is. The DA also claims Schmidt has violated CYA rules with "drug and alcohol" use.

One juror reports that Donald Schmidt bought a prescription drug given to another inmate for hyperactivity on one occasion a few years ago. The DA called it "legal meth." He also accused Schmidt of "forced sex acts" but no additional charges for assault or attempted forcible rape have been filed.

While the DA's expert psychiatric witness testified that Schmidt remains a danger to society, his State certified panel of 7 psychiatrists say he isn't. Under American law, no juror could find against Schmidt under these circumstances because the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt. When expert witnesses disagree, that raises reasonable doubt.

2 HUNG JURIES

Twice this year, DA Bob Lee has taken Schmidt to trial with 2 separate juries. Twice he's come back with a hung jury. Schmidt's defense attorney, William Weigel doesn't think they will ever get a jury to be unanimous on this case. So, it's entirely possible that on June 20th, Schmidt will be released in Riverside County, California. He will not be placed in Santa Cruz County and has stated he will never ever come back to Santa Cruz County.

Chuck Blanford, a long-time volunteer at the CYA facility where he is housed in San Bernardino, California said that Donald's own hellish nightmare ended the day he was arrested. For he was finally protected from those who were regularly abusing him, and he was able to sober up from the meth. The years of counseling and therapy he received helped him change from a rage-filled meth addict, to a decent human being. He also was able to receive the years of education he had been denied in his chaotic early life. I believe in atonement. I think it's rare, but I am always encouraged when it happens. Yes, Donald Schmidt should be released. But only in Santa Cruz can he be tried again and again for the same crime.