A California Governor has pardoned a woman who was convicted of murder as a teenager for killing a man who sexually abused and trafficked her.
Sara Kruzan was just 16 in 1994 when she robbed and murdered George Gilbert Howard in a motel room in Riverside, California. The following year, she was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
According to the Los Angeles Times, it was reported that Kruzan met Howard when she was 11 years old, and soon after their meeting, Howard trafficked her and forced her to have sexual intercourse with other men.
In 2011, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reduced Kruzan's prison sentence to 25 years and included in his clemency petition of the chance of parole.
Two years later, in 2013, a Riverside judge lowered her sentence even further, and Kruzan was eventually released from prison that year when she was 35 years old. However, as the publication reported, her conviction impacted her ability to obtain work.
Watch Sara speak out back in 2014:On July 1, Governor Newsom pardoned Kruzan, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, along with 17 others who were also granted clemency.
In Newsom's pardon, he declared that Kruzan had "provided evidence that she is living an upright life and has demonstrated her fitness for restoration of civic rights and responsibilities".
"Since then, Ms. Kruzan has transformed her life and dedicated herself to community service," Newsom said. "This act of clemency for Ms. Kruzan does not minimize or forgive her conduct or the harm it caused. It does recognize the work she has done since to transform herself."
While a governor's pardon does not overturn a conviction, a press release from the governor's office explained that the pardon does work to remove "counterproductive barriers to employment and public service".
However, Kruzan is still a convicted felon in California. Her legal team is now working to remove the criminal conviction and has sent a formal request to the Riverside County district attorney's office, asking them to examine the case again.
According to the LA Times, Kruzan says that the decision has released "these invisible chains that I didn't realize were still taloned in me".
"Do I wanna move forward with love? Or do I wanna move forward with fear, anger, and pain?" Kruzan said. "Now, I wanna move forward in love. And that takes a lot of courage to do that."
