CALIFORNIA JUDGE DROPS BOMBSHELL: Newsom’s Criminal Justice Policies Are “A Danger to Others”
A retired Superior Court judge who spent nearly three decades sending California’s most vicious criminals to prison has delivered a scathing indictment of Governor Gavin Newsom’s crime policies—and her message is clear: The state needs to be rescued from its own governor.
Maryann Gilliard didn’t mince words. After 27 years on the bench in Sacramento, handling murder cases, child abuse prosecutions, and serial rapist trials, she’s breaking her silence with a dire warning that should alarm every American watching California’s descent into chaos.
“At this point in time, California needs to be placed into a conservatorship because the person in charge, Gavin Newsom, is a danger to others,” Gilliard declared.
This isn’t partisan hyperbole. This is a seasoned jurist who witnessed firsthand the consequences of soft-on-crime policies that have turned the Golden State into a cautionary tale.
The Breaking Point: Child Predators Walking Free
Judge Gilliard’s decision to speak publicly came after a particularly egregious case that exposes the madness of California’s so-called “criminal justice reform.”
David Allen Funston—a serial child molester who received three life sentences for kidnapping and sexually assaulting multiple children ages 3 to 7 in the 1990s—walked out of prison this month. Not because he was innocent. Not because he was rehabilitated. But because Newsom’s “elder parole” program deemed him eligible at age 64.
Let that sink in. A predator who violated toddlers now roams free under a policy that considers 50-year-olds “elderly.”
“As a 50 year old serial child molester, you are eligible to elderly parole but still too young for the senior Grand Slam at Denny’s,” Gilliard noted with bitter irony. “Criminals who were ordered to serve life terms are being paroled because Gavin Newsom and his reckless Board of Parole have given the green light without regard to public safety.”
The program, expanded under Newsom through AB 3234 in 2021, allows violent felons to petition for early release after serving just 20 years if they’re at least 50 years old. This isn’t rehabilitation—it’s capitulation.
A Catalog of Catastrophic Policies
The elder parole debacle represents just one piece of Newsom’s dangerous crime agenda. Judge Gilliard systematically dismantled a slate of laws that have transformed California into a criminal’s paradise.
Murderers now stay on parole for as little as one year. Gang laws have been gutted. Convicted felons who aren’t currently on probation or parole can serve on juries—meaning criminals are judging criminals.
But perhaps the most outrageous policy is SB 1223, signed by Newsom in 2023, which has become the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card.
Under this law, defendants can cite virtually any diagnosis from the DSM-5—the psychiatric diagnostic manual—to avoid incarceration. ADHD? Cannabis use disorder? Depression? Anxiety? Any of these can supposedly excuse criminal conduct and divert offenders into poorly-monitored mental health programs instead of jail.
“If you pistol whip an 80 year old lady but you’re a pothead, also known as ‘cannabis use disorder,’ all you have to be is in the DSM-5 and it’s presumed that was the cause of the conduct,” Judge Gilliard explained.
This isn’t compassionate treatment. It’s institutional insanity masquerading as progressive policy.
Bipartisan Alarm Bells
Even Democrats in California are sounding the alarm. State Senator Shannon Grove of Bakersfield led a bipartisan coalition demanding stricter limits on mental health diversion.
“However well-intended this program was and might have been, in reality it did not come with enough guardrails and has become a get-out-of-jail-free card,” Grove admitted.
When California Democrats are calling out their own governor’s crime policies, you know the situation has reached crisis levels.
Judge Gilliard didn’t hold back: “The governor owns this failure, he needs to do the right thing and call a special session of the legislature and fix what he broke. The biggest crime scene in Sacramento is at the state capital, and someone ought to tape it off.”
The Bureaucratic Spin Machine
Predictably, Newsom’s office trotted out carefully curated statistics and bureaucratic doublespeak to defend the indefensible.
Spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo claimed that recidivism drops sharply with age and less than 2% of elder parolees are convicted of crimes within five years. She insisted the parole process is “stringent” and based on “the best risk assessment tools.”
Tell that to the families of Funston’s victims, who were forced to relive their trauma when their children’s rapist became eligible for release.
The spokesperson also defended mental health diversion, claiming it “reduces recidivism more effectively than cycling individuals through jail without care.”
This is the language of ideologues who care more about theory than reality, more about offenders than victims, more about political narratives than public safety.
Forgotten Victims, Ignored Families
Throughout her career, Judge Gilliard witnessed something that Sacramento politicians never see: the human cost of their “reforms.”
By the end of her tenure overseeing murder cases, she found herself delivering a grim message to victims’ families during sentencing hearings.
“I would tell the victims and their family members, ‘the governor and the legislature are never here on Fridays, during sentencing, to see the agony and pain you’re going through because of their ‘reforms,'” she recalled.
Former Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert echoed this sentiment: “There are real live human beings who have been horrifically victimized. Nobody thinks that 50 is elderly. It’s a joke. And when we ignore victims’ rights, it is devastating for families and victims who have to relive trauma when offenders are eligible for parole.”
These aren’t abstract policy debates. These are real children who were raped. Real families who were murdered. Real elderly victims who were brutalized. And real communities forced to live with the consequences of Sacramento’s reckless social experiments.
The California Model America Must Reject
Gavin Newsom has made no secret of his national political ambitions. He positions himself as the future of the Democratic Party, offering California as a model for America.
Judge Gilliard’s testimony provides a crucial reality check. The California model means child molesters getting early release. It means violent criminals avoiding jail by claiming they smoke pot. It means murderers completing parole in less time than most car loans.
This is what happens when progressive ideology trumps common sense, when compassion for criminals eclipses justice for victims, when political correctness overrides public safety.
Californians are fleeing the state in record numbers. Crime-weary residents are voting with their feet, escaping to states where law and order still mean something.
The rest of America should pay attention. Because the policies destroying California today are the same policies Democrats want to impose nationwide tomorrow.
A Judge’s Duty to Warn
Judge Gilliard spent 27 years doing her job—upholding the law, protecting the public, delivering justice. Now retired, she could have remained silent, enjoyed her well-earned rest, and avoided controversy.
Instead, she chose to speak up. Because some things are more important than a quiet retirement. Some truths demand to be told, regardless of political consequences.
Her message is unambiguous: California’s criminal justice system has been hijacked by ideologues who prioritize criminals over citizens, political theory over proven practice, and virtue signaling over victims’ rights.
The question now is whether anyone in Sacramento is listening—or whether California will continue its dangerous experiment until the inevitable catastrophe forces change.
One thing is certain: When a judge who has seen the worst of humanity says the governor himself is “a danger to others,” the people better start paying attention.
The safety of every Californian depends on it.
