Supreme Court Grants DVSJA Motion for Resentencing, Removes CAL Client from Lifetime Parole

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In 1997, C.S. was convicted of, inter alia, second-degree murder for shooting her then-roommate R.S. She was sentenced to 20 years-to-life and served 26 years before being released to parole in January 2022. At the time, C.S. was a biological male who dressed in women’s clothing as a form of self-care. Over the course of several months while they lived together, R.S. sexually harassed her and eventually raped her. After a two-day hearing at which C.S. testified, the Honorable Daniel Conviser found this abuse significantly contributed to C.S.’s conduct in killing R.S., and accordingly re-sentenced C.S. to a new DVSJA term of 15 years to be followed by 5 years’ post-release supervision. Because she had already served 26 years, she was removed from lifetime parole. Carola Beeney represented C.S. on her post-conviction motion.