“Monster” Child Sexual Predator Granted Early Parole

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The Los Angeles Times has this story by Clara Harter:

A Sacramento man once described by a judge as “the monster parents fear the most” seemed destined to spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation in 1999.

Instead, he is now set to go free after being granted elderly parole — much to the anger and horror of some of his victims, as well as the prosecutor who oversaw his case.

“He shouldn’t be breathing the same air that we’re breathing at all,” one victim, who was kidnapped and assaulted when she was just 4 years old, told The Times in an interview. “I disagree with him getting paroled out because he’s a horrible person. That man is a monster.”

In 1995-1996, David Funston kidnapped and committed sex crimes against six children between four and seven years old. He was originally sentenced to a term of 20 years, 8 months, plus three consecutive terms of 25-to-life. Although the sentence was modified on appeal, it remained sufficient to guarantee that he would be in prison over 40 years under the law in effect at the time of the crimes.

In recent years, the California Legislature has passed a number of laws to water down the punishments imposed under earlier laws. One of them provides an additional parole system for “elderly” inmates, absurdly defining “elderly” as over 50. While the law excepts some offenders from its scope, it does not exclude sexual predators sentenced under California’s “one strike” law for exceptionally heinous sex crimes.

The LA Times article continues:

But those involved in Funston’s case struggle to understand how the program’s criteria could apply to him.

“A lot of people get out of prison and I don’t scream about it, but this is one I’m screaming about,” said former Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert, who prosecuted the case against Funston while serving as a deputy district attorney.

Funston used a Barbie doll to lure the victim who spoke with The Times into his vehicle in Foothill Farms in 1995. He then took her to a house, bathed with her, put her on a bed, held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she told her family, prosecutors said. He performed multiple sex acts on her, causing her to bleed.

“He’s one sick individual,” the victim said. “What if he gets out and and tries to find his old victims and wants to kill us?”