Newsom pardons woman who killed sex trafficker, spent decades behind bars

California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week pardoned Sara Kruzan, a victim of teen sex trafficking who spent nearly two decades in prison after she killed her abuser and has since become a national advocate for prison reform.

Kruzan was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in September 1995 for killing George Gilbert Howard as he attempted to sexually assault her. Howard sex trafficked her for years, starting when she was a teenager.

Kruzan was tried as an adult at age 16.

In December 2010, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger commuted Kruzan’s sentence to 25 years to life, according to Newsom’s pardon, which was issued Friday. By 2013, Kruzan was again resentenced to a total term of 19 years to life, and then-Gov. Jerry Brown released her after she had served 18 years in prison.

Newsom’s pardon says Kruzan has “transformed her life and dedicated herself to community service.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/newsom-pardons-woman-killed-sex-trafficker-spent-decades-bars-rcna36614

She should never have been tried as an adult in the first place, and anyway, it sounds like self-defense. (and maybe she committed a public service, because who knows how many other young women he trafficked?)