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Attorney general challenges bus kidnapper’s parole

The California Attorney General's Office files an appeal in the February ruling by the First District Court of Appeal to grant parole to 1976 Chowchilla school bus kidnapper Richard Schoenfeld. The appeal claims that the ruling misinterpreted the law governing Schoenfeld’s release.

April 12, 2012
1 min to read


SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The state Attorney General's Office is challenging a February ruling by the First District Court of Appeal to grant parole to a 1976 Chowchilla school bus kidnapper, the Fresno Bee reports.

The appeal filed with the California Supreme Court on Monday claims that the February ruling misinterpreted the law governing Richard Schoenfeld’s release. It argues that the ruling limited the parole board's ability "to enhance prison terms for certain inmates who received concurrent sentences" under a repealed indeterminate sentencing law, which provided for a wider range of potential sentences, according to the Fresno Bee.

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As SBFpreviously reported, the other two kidnappers, James Schoenfeld and Frederick Woods, have never been found suitable for parole by the state board. The three men hijacked a bus carrying 26 children and their bus driver on July 15, 1976, and buried them alive in a rock quarry with the intention of ransoming them.

To read the full Fresno Bee story, click here.

Topics:Safety

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