By Sydney Dalske
Jae Williams is to be freed from prison following a new law, SB 1391, which outlaws trying 15 and 16 year olds as an adult.
Back in 2009, Jae Williams was 15 when he and a friend brutally killed another teenager named Michael Russell. There is supposedly no motivation for the brutal murder and the Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said, “This horrific crime that they committed was planned and premeditated.”. This is why the boys were originally tried as adults and were sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Now 29, Jae Williams was ordered to be released from prison last Monday and walked out of the prison the next day. The state law that has allowed this to happen, passed in 2018, has been highly debated on how to apply it to Williams who was 15 at the time of the crime.
Michael Russells aunt Cathy said, “ We’ve had a lot of sleepless nights. To us, he’s the same person we saw from the beginning to the end… It’s such a slap to the face when Michael is the one who should be here.”. But in rebuttal, Williams longtime attorney Lewis Romero has noted that his client has had not one instance of violence in the 15 years Williams has been in multiple jails and prisons.
Russells family and other supporters continue to argue that an early release would pose a public safety risk, swaying the court to opt for putting Williams in a jail-based transition program since he is an adult under the juvenile probation system.
He may later be placed under a monitoring system or be forced to stay in custody for several months to undergo therapy before release back into the public.
beniciapaw.com 