March 25, 2010
CDCR’s Kernan defends destruction of parole records in Gardner case from San Diego
State prison authorities said Wednesday that destroying parole agent field notes on convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III from a 2000 molestation case had no bearing on preventing the murder of Poway teenager Chelsea King.
Scott Kernan, an undersecretary with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, also told an Assembly committee that Gardner remained on parole -- rather than being sent back to prison on a 2007 violation -- based on the recommendation of the field agent supervising him.
But a critic of state parole policy, former Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, later said Kernan’s testimony is not credible because he did not have the field files to know.
For example, Spitzer believes it was a supervisor -- and not the field agent -- who allowed Gardner to continue living close to a school in violation of his parole conditions, said Spitzer, now an Orange County prosecutor...
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
