A drunken Paul Carrillo in February 1981 decided he wanted to ride around in a taxi one night without paying. So he and a friend summoned a taxi and struck driver Stanley Pace in the head with a 2-by-4 with nails. Pace died, and a Riverside County judge sentenced Carrillo to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
One day in 1987, Gerald Gauthier, a courier who regularly picked up money from convenience stores in the Baker area of San Bernardino County, was driving his station wagon with no armored cars available. A clerk at one of the stores, Christopher Edwin Asay, approached Gauthier, shot him several times in the chest as he sat in the car and stole $16,000.
Both Carrillo and Asay were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But Friday, with the stroke of a pen, both men are now eligible to make their case for freedom to the state parole board after Gov. Jerry Brown commuted their sentences to 25 years to life.
Brown on Friday reduced the sentences of seven other prisoners — four convicted murderers, two attempted murderers and one kidnapper — because of their exceptional behavior in prison and attempts to reform themselves.
Carrillo, 61, has been in prison 35 years. According to the commutation, Carrillo has not violated a rule since 1985. He has participated in self-help programs including anger management, alternatives to violence, addiction counseling, creative conflict resolution and Narcotics Anonymous.
Carrillo also was designated as the inmate Native American spiritual adviser at Ironwood State Prison in Blythe.
Asay, 55, has been imprisoned for 29 years. In his application for clemency, he wrote: “I know that I cannot change the past, but I can and have done everything within my power to repent and improve myself.”
Asay, who is in a prison in Utah, has not been disciplined in prison and has earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees while incarcerated. He has worked as a reader for the blind and taken self-help programs. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert wrote a letter of support for Asay.
A drunken Paul Carrillo in February 1981 decided he wanted to ride around in a taxi one night without paying. So he and a friend summoned a taxi and struck driver Stanley Pace in the head with a 2-by-4 with nails. Pace died, and a Riverside County judge sentenced Carrillo to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
One day in 1987, Gerald Gauthier, a courier who regularly picked up money from convenience stores in the Baker area of San Bernardino County, was driving his station wagon with no armored cars available. A clerk at one of the stores, Christopher Edwin Asay, approached Gauthier, shot him several times in the chest as he sat in the car and stole $16,000.
Both Carrillo and Asay were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But Friday, with the stroke of a pen, both men are now eligible to make their case for freedom to the state parole board after Gov. Jerry Brown commuted their sentences to 25 years to life.
Brown on Friday reduced the sentences of seven other prisoners — four convicted murderers, two attempted murderers and one kidnapper — because of their exceptional behavior in prison and attempts to reform themselves.
Carrillo, 61, has been in prison 35 years. According to the commutation, Carrillo has not violated a rule since 1985. He has participated in self-help programs including anger management, alternatives to violence, addiction counseling, creative conflict resolution and Narcotics Anonymous.
Carrillo also was designated as the inmate Native American spiritual adviser at Ironwood State Prison in Blythe.
Asay, 55, has been imprisoned for 29 years. In his application for clemency, he wrote: “I know that I cannot change the past, but I can and have done everything within my power to repent and improve myself.”
Asay, who is in a prison in Utah, has not been disciplined in prison and has earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees while incarcerated. He has worked as a reader for the blind and taken self-help programs. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert wrote a letter of support for Asay.